“R J Pfeiffer” was my favorite Matson ship. Did a couple of 2nd Mate gigs in her twenty years ago. Was Bobby the Cat still alive when you were there? He’d meow through the vent in my cabin door in the mornings to be let in because I kept treats for him.
If I ever had a bad meal in that ship, I don’t remember it.
I’ll second the Matson and APL as equally best and third was MTL. Fourth was Alaska Marine Highway ferries.
Coastal Transportation was the best for relief work and second only to Alaska ferries for Aleutian Islands National Geographic class adventure trips.
The absolute bottom sludge was Central Gulf Lines.
Sargeant Marine. In their time the lowest paying shipping company in the US when MMP was oversaturated w/applicants. Still have issues w/ temp regulation today thanks to the heatstroke they fired me for reporting to the DPA after getting out of the hospital.
Yup Bobby the cat was still there at the time. Great ship with great crew. I think I was there in 07.
Well, I spent 17 years at MSC. It started off great in 1980. When I resigned in 1997 it was horrible. I also worked a few hitches for Transatlantic lines, B &B Dredge and Cashman Dredge. Made MSC look good. I always had a good hitch at Ocean Shipholdings.
I did TAl and you are right. Terrible.
Was just reading the “Asphalt Commander Scrapped” thread from May 2008.
It’s a hoot, with a lot of bitterness, mixed in with bad grammar. I shouldn’t be amused, as it’s reminiscent of my D1 days sailing with New Orleans and Mobile SIU crews, and badly-used ships.
I used to see her around when she was “Falcon Champion”.
In one of my earlier posts I’d mentioned that one of the nicest dudes in M.M.&P. had shipped in her, so, everyone wasn’t terrible.
I paid off in early '07. Must’ve just missed you.
Yeah I joined the ship in Dalian in the shipyard I think it was like August 07 or something like that.
When “Pfeiffer” was in port, I’d use the elevator to get around. Always made me laugh when the door opened and Bobby would be sitting in there waiting for the right deck to appear.
B&B Dredging was the only company I ever walked off of. Their dredge was out of COI date, falling apart, and downright dangerous.
Otherwise most companies I experienced were ok. US Shipping was not the greatest, but not terrible either. The best overall company I worked for was Crowley Maritime in their tanker division. They paid well, put money into their vessels, offered training, and generally took care of the crew. Was it perfect, no, but overall, the better of the companies I worked for.
One of her masters was running CM on an AHL ship after the Commander went to scrap. I ran into him at MITAGS but lost touch after. There was always a certain bond as former crew came across each other, from the shared misery.
Aside from the 3M pay on the T-5’s, I agree that they were a really good outfit to work for when I was there.
The bond is real. Nothing hits like misery at sea.
Best for me was Pasha.
Worst was TECO.