THE SEAMEN'S VIEW

Evening Post, Volume XCVI, Issue 136, 5 December 1918, Page 7

THE SEAMEN'S VIEW

TO THE EDITOR. , Sir,—A paragraph appearing in your issue of the 29th, said to have been supplied you by some shipping man, asserts that it was' complained that in most cases crews were obtained with the exception of one man, and that the absence of this man held up the ship, while the seamen engaged.wero being paid'the whole time. The inference to be drawn from this is that there is collusion between sailors, firemen, trimmers, and greasers to' sign ships' articles with the exception of one man to make up the i ship's complement, and as a ship cannot proceed to sea without her legal complement the vessel is held alongside of the wharf 'while awaiting the additional man. • On belialf of seamen, I have to give this assertion an emphatic denial, and beg to state that there is no 6uch collusion, and as a matter of fact, if a ship is only one man short in any one of her manning departments, the shipping law. allows her to proceed to sea with one man short, therefore the contention of your authority falls to the ground. Sailors, firemen, greasers, and trimmers, at this port who are well and able to do so are only too anxious to man the vessels, but in most cases' the living quarters have been in a most filthy condition, due entirely to the ships not giving the men sufficient time to clean the quarters, and as a result most vessels have been detained at the wharves by the direction of the Port Health Inspector pending the cleaning and disinfecting of the living quarters to his satisfaction. On several occasions it has been stated in the daily papers that the Mapourika was detained for the want of a crew. As a matter of fact, the Mapourika was not ready to sign a crow on until last Friday evening, when her-living quarters had been cleaned to the satisfaction of the^Port Health Inspector, and no men were signed on her articles until that afternoon.^ In addition to that, men are quite free to pick their own jobs and to decide what vessel they will sign articles in, and they are not going to be compelled by your authority or any other person to sigii articles in any vessel they are not inclined to sign in. These things and the large shortage of men have to be taken into account when considering the ■ manning of. vessels, but 1 just want to make it quite plain\that there is no collusion to sign articles and hold the vessels up pending the completion of the crew with an additional man, The statement of ; the authority is an unmitigated ono, and an unwarranted reflection on the seamen,' and I g,ive it an unqualified denial.— I am, etc., W. T. YOUNG, General Secretary, Federated Seamen's . Union. 2nd December. \