The Aftermath

"Chief, where do we go during a tornado?" I was a Junior year maritime student, working a couple of weeks onboard a pierside ship in Norfolk, VA when a tornado warning came through in the middle of the night. "You're safe onboard the ship", the Chief Engineer replied. Florida has received its bouts of weather misfortune in recent years, but Hurricane Milton appears to be the worst. The rrcovery efforts are overshadowed by political news during this election season, but the individual and collective efforts of cleanup and recovery must go on. One thing I noticed was the frequent reminder online that Merchant Mariner Credentials could be replaced free of charge if required. While it is recommended to bring your important papers - and licenses- when you evacuate home, unforseen circumstances do happen. Florida is home to many American deep sea mariners, for various reasons (taxation, and being home to deep sea ports and mariner training centers), so Hurricane Milton's personal impact follows to sea. This is the time of year when established mariners seek to be at sea, in order to be home for the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. I have not heard reports, but I would surmise that many mariners are eager to take a leave of absence to make sure their homes and families are okay. As much as utility crews and building contractors were lined up, waiting for the storm to pass, mariners 'on the beach' should be willing to pitch in. This could mean helping a co-worker clean up their home, or to fill in a short hitch at sea. Let us know how we can help.

Real Oysters and Proverbial Pearls

What do men on strike do? They might carry a picket sign, but they will certainly drink beer. This was the Propeller Club’s Fall Oyster Roast in Chesapeake Virginia, a twice-annual event geared more to labor- the working men and the white-collared petit bourgeoise, than to the ownership class. The members of the International Longshoremens' Association, who at previous events were low-key and focused on doting their wife and kids, instead were talking boisterously with each other, wearing identical orange strike shirts. Many of them were good old southern boys with nice pickup trucks and brand-name outdoors gear. Life treated them well so far, and they were intent on keeping it that way for themselves and their children. One recent college graduate, who worked in a shipping company office, lamented “I wish I could go on strike”. My request for the DJ to play Bon Jovi’s “Living on a Prayer” went unheeded. Nevertheless, I hummed the good man’s words: “Tommy used to work on the docks; Union's been on strike, he's down on his luck; It's tough, so tough…” In other news, Military Sealift Command's civil service mariner will now receive paid shore leave equal to the number of weekends spent at sea. That is, 2 days of paid leave for every 7 days; a quadrupling of the previous 1 day of paid leave for 15 days at sea. The NOAA, a much smaller organization operating oceanography vessels, implemented this plan last year. For the Military Sealift Command, additional shore leave will be granted retroactively to December 24, 2023, and will appear on the next leave statement for this pay period. I expect that the realization of this new paid leave plan will greatly improve retention of skilled mariners, who have a choice of working for other employers.