UNITED STATES - REGISTERED TANKER HIRES GERMAN CREW

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP57-00384R001100100041-6
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 30, 2004
• Sequence Number: 41
• Publication Date: April 25, 1950
• Content Type: MEMO

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TOz DEPART [ENT OF STATE
Fr'OM BREW RHAVEN 32 April 25, 1950
REFa VOLUNTARY
SUB3s United States - Registered Tanker Hires German Crew
The T-2 type tanker "Meacham" of Wilmington, Delaware, owned by the
National Tankers Corp. of New York City and operated by Sieling and Jarvis of
New York City, arrived empty at Bremerhaven, Germany, on April 18, 1950, to dis-
charge its entire crew and open new articles with an all-German crew. In view of
the presumed opposition on the part of seamen's unions in the United States to the
hiring of alien crews on American-flag vessels,, in view of the security risk in-
volved in allowing aliens to serve on American vessels as watch officers, and in
view of expected requests in the future of other operators to hire German crews
in Oe nw ports, the Depabtment's instructions are requested as to how such re-
quests should be handled.
The "Meacham" arri"'ed in Bremerhaven from Rotterdam with a crew of 39 plus
master and a supernumerary. All the crew were aliens except the four engine de-
partment officers and the purser. Only two deck officers besides the master were
aboard the Meacham between Rotterdam and Bremerhaven, an Italian 2nd mate and a
Filipino 3rd mate. Seventeen of the crew were Filipinos signed. on under a special
rider which in effect prohibited the operators from discharging them prior to
the end of one year after they signed the articles. Twelve of the crew were
Chinese. A Filipino radio operator and a homeless Esthonian completed the comple-
ment. The articles on which this crew was being carried could, apart the rider
covering the 17 Filipinos, be terminated by the master in any port after the com-
pletion of one voyage.
Difficulties arose in signing off the Filipino crew occasioned by the fact
that the rider attached to the articles specified that this part of the crew
would serve on voyages between Formosa and the Persian Gulf, whereas the vessel did
actually make at least two voyages to Europe. A spokesman for the crew, most of whom
could speak very little English, felt that the crew should be given a 50% bonus for
having served beyond their contract. To pass judgement on this demand I felt to be
beyond ny authority and I advised the crew to sign off "under protest" and to in-
stitute legal action later if they desired. Because of the inability of most of the
Filipinos to understand any but the simplest English phrases, it was difficult to
reach agreement with them.
The take of reaching agreement with these seventeen men was not simplified by
the insistance of the operators that the attempt should be made to sign them off
under mutual consent so as to avoid paying them the full year's wages (up to May
10, 1950) due under the special rider. The man refused to sign off under mutual
consent and the operators finally paid them their regular wages up to May 10,, 1950.
It was learned from some of the crew that they had been recruited originally by
a Filipino agent who extracted a sizeable fee for finding them employment. This
man collected the men's allotment checks and demanded other fees from the men's
wives when the wives wanted to get the checks. They stated that this agent also
told them that they would receive area bonuses just as American union seamen do,
although no provision was made for this in the contract and it was never paid. On
the whole, iAp?eeweeldtraRslta tto4' tM2 beId bw- 42U0vf4w1f 64* for the
United States among the Filipino crew members.
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Discharging an entire non-German crew in a Weser River por es without prece-
dent. The Allied High Commission for Germany has reserved unto itself control over
immigration but has not laid down a comprehensive system of regulations governing
the entry of seamen into Germany in pursuit of their calling. The decision of the
officials charged with immigration control was complicated by the desire of the oper-
ators to leave behind the homeless Esthonian pumpmaa.n. In the end, permission to land in
Hermany was refused this Esthonian although he probably would have been allowed to
remain here as a refugee if he had entered across a land border. Because the
Lsthonian was not allowed ashore in Germany, I declined to discharge him against his
will from the articles under which he was serving, although the operators had the
legal right to terminate the articles in this port., and although the articles were
due to expire on May 11, 1950, when the vessel presumably would be at sea. The
operators were willing to sign him on the new articles under the same conditions
and wages as th+h new German crew was to receive, butsiinc this the would have meant
a cut in wages from over $300 per month to $65.7 per month, to remain on the old articles until they expired.
It is not known what will become of t).s Esthonian. It may be that each
country will refuse him entry because he does not have permission to reside in
some other country. Yet so long as he remains on the vessel he cannot proceed
to a consulate to secure the visa which alone would give him the right to reside
in some country. However, it seems that while the Meacham was undergoing American
Bureau of Shipping annual inspection in England in September, 1919, the Esthonian
was allowed ashore. I advised him to utilize any future opportunities of this kind
He is anxious to
$o try to secure a. permanent residence visa to some country.
secure permission to get to the United States but in view of the virtual impossi-
bility of his obtaining a visa for the United States, he may be content to receive
a visa to a country like Australia. On the other hand, it is not impossible that
he will have to spend the remainder of his natural life on board the Meacham.
While in Bremerhaven, the Meacham changed not only her crew but also her master,
Roland J. Robert relieving Captain Walter E. Keller. I regret to have to report that
Captain Robert, after being officially placed in charge of the Meacham by me, ab-
sented himself from the vessel without due eases for at/'east a period of seven hours
at time during which the old crew was being discharged and before the new German crew
could be officially signed on. Fortunately, Captain Keller remained aboard to see
that nothing happened to the vessel and the incoming German officers stood watch
and began to organize the crew into watches. This Consulate made every effort con-
sistent with justice to discharge the old crew and sign on the new crew without
undue delay. I awaited Captain Robert on board the vessel until 10 PM on the night
of April 20th to proceed with the signing on of the new crew., but he did not appear,
I consider that Captain Robert did not fulfil the expectation of his employer that
he would try to put the ship to sea again without unnecessary delay and that he was
derelict in his duties as master of an American vessel by remaining away from it at
a time when he. could reasonably expect that no other officers or crew members would
be aboard.
The new crew was signed on finally on the morning of April 21st. All of the
German crew members possessed the permit of the Allied High Commission to sail on
foreign voyages and had already concluded approved individual contOrabts with the
operators as required by High Commission directive. The wage scale agreed to be-
38480011 01 0041-6r below the
tween the menAja ovea ror a eose 0 %AA 2 : CIA the P5x7-00 wage
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Amerman wag scale. The rates ranged from $1.69 per month plus overtime for
a meseman r $18.69 a month without overtime) to 1220.60 a month for a chief
engineer. The German seaman's union protested to the master against the wage
scale, stating that by international agreement the flag which the vessel was
flying rather than the nationality of the crew should determine the wage scale.
The master rejected this protest.
None of the German crew members were in possession of United States merchant
mariner's certificates or licenses. None had ever served on a high-pressure,
turbo-electric ship before. Judging the fitness of the crew to take the vessel
to des wad thetef-ore difficult. The Officer-in-Charge of the Coast Guard Mer-
chant Marine Detail, Bremerhaven, questioned the crew members individually, as
they signed on about their experience and ability. It was decided that the new
....v membetrd pi*obabiy made up in ability what they may have lacked in experience.
It should be noted that the four deck officers signed on as mates all possessed
German master's licenses. The.yerew may perhaps have been short on experienced
life boat men (/1.B..e) and experienced high-pressure firemen,, but on the whole
they were felt to be competent.
The operators of the Meacham have two other tankers under charter. If
the Meacham's crew meets expectations, the operators are expected to replace
the present Italian crews with Germans. One other tanker operator has indi-
cated an interest in hiring German crews. The Department is requested to in-
form this Consulate if German crews should not be signed on American-flag
vessels in the future.
The yellow copy of the new articles opened by Captain Robert of the
Meacham has been turned over to the Coast Guard Merchant Marine Detail, Bremer-
haven, along with pertinent other documents. A copy of the new certified crew
list, which does not include the homeless Esthonian carried on the old certified
crew list, is enclosed.
(signed)
Robert B. Rous t on, Jr.
American Vice Consul
Enclosures
Crew List
Coy to the American Consulate Genera.,Bremen
*r n nrrr* tr n Frankfort
n n n n n n Hamburg
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