Editor’s note: The Seafarers LOG reserves the right to edit letters for grammar as well as space provisions without changing the writer’s intent. The LOG welcomes letters from members, pensioners, their families and shipmates and will publish them on a timely basis.Changing of the Flag
I am a recertified steward currently aboard the MV Courage (formerly the MV Aida). This vessel was a Swedish-flagged car carrier. A U.S. crew consisting of AMO officers and SIU members took the ship under the U.S.flag on Sept. 15, 2005.
I just wanted to relate some interesting things to the LOG. We boarded the vessel in Charleston, S.C. on Sept. 15. It was quite an experience to change flags with an entirely new crew. All crew and officers were polite and respectful of the departing Swedish officers and Filipino crew.
All sorts of challenges were immediately present. In the steward department, we had to deal with galley equipment that we were not used to, such as oven temperatures in centigrade instead of Fahrenheit. We also were immediately expected to participate in Coast Guard drills and inspections as well as ABS inspections and interviews to see if we knew our station bills.
I am happy to report that the crew passed USCG inspection and ABS certification without one problem. It is a testament to the training and seamanship that we have received from the SIU—just another case of the best trained and qualified seamen in the world.
Robert Wilcox, Steward
MV Courage
Protecting the U.S. Flag
Since I am neither an academic nor an economist, I will defer to others the discussion of the economic viability of operating and maintaining a strong American Merchant Marine fleet. As a retired merchant marine officer, however, I feel very passionate about the continued support of America’s “Fourth Arm of Defense” and its role in transporting key materiel to our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.
During the first Gulf War, while the U.S. was struggling to break out old ships from the reserve fleets in Virginia and California, the Department of Defense was contracting with foreign counties for specific type vessels and manned by foreign seamen. Some of these ships and their crews refused to sail in harm’s way due to political considerations. This was and remains entirely unacceptable.
The U.S. government, the American seafaring unions and the shipping companies realize that it is in the best interest of all to maintain an American-flag fleet, however strong. The United States Coast Guard does an excellent job of regulating and licensing U.S. seamen, insisting on background checks and proper training. Flag-of-convenience countries, havens for companies looking to minimize safety and security and to maximize profits, in some cases employ ill-trained personnel who are not seafarers.
On another note, numbers can be deceiving. One hundred and fifty merchant ships denies the existence of thousands of vessels, seagoing tugs and barges that carry anywhere from 100,000 to 300,000 and 400,000 barrels of petroleum products per trip, container barges and tugs, dredges, coastal passenger ships, and a host of brown-water boats of all types, that are protected by the Jones Act. I can think of no more of a comforting thought than to see the American flag flying on a vessel docked at a U.S. port.
In his National Maritime Day proclamation this year, President Bush noted, “America’s merchant mariners make our nation more secure and our economy stronger ...merchant mariners have served in every conflict in our nation’s history.” Ninety-five percent of the soldiers’ supplies move by sea, and we need a strong U.S. Merchant Marine to accomplish the task.
We have the base to man and maintain a strong U.S. fleet. Seven maritime academies, an excellent unlicensed seamen’s school at Piney Point, Md. and other localized training programs operated by various companies all contribute to the highly trained labor force needed to man our ships. If there’s a problem, it is that the merchant marine is invisible. It has scant public relations apparatus and no mass grassroots support. Education is the key word here.
Harry T. Scholer, 2nd Mate
USMM, retired
(Harry T. Scholar is a retired SIU and AMO member who feels very strongly about the U.S. Merchant Marine. This past summer, he revisited the Paul Hall Center, where he still feels at home, having upgraded there in the 1980s and ’90s.)
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