HOW TO GET A JOB ON A FREIGHTER

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I'm here to tell you that - contrary to popular belief - youcan still work your way to almost anywhere in the world on a freighter. You don't need money, short hair, experience or references. You won't even have to fill out an application! All you'll need is a passport and a vaccination certificate.

There are two good ways for the complete novice to get a job on a freighter. One is by going from ship to ship and asking each captain if he needs (a) a deckboy or (b) a work away. A deckboy is part of the crew and gets paid (although very little) and a workaway gets no wages at all but swaps labor for his passage. Although few companies now accept workaways, some captains will still take one in place of a paid crew member.

Don't waste your time with United States vessels when going from ship to ship unless you're already in the American union (in which case, you probably wouldn't be using this method of locating a job anyway). If you're not a union member, don't bother trying to join; they'll just put you on a waiting list. I was about No. 200 when I first applied and, one year later, they had taken only ten people into the union. Now that the war in Asia is winding down (?-JS), there are a lot of unemployed sailors-and too many union members. So concentrate on foreign vessels.

The second easy beginner's entry to a freighter job is through the Scandinavian Shipping Office. There are only two of these offices in the United States: One is on Pier 29 in San Francisco and the other is at Hansen Place in Brooklyn. When the captain of a Scandinavian ship in our waters needs crew members he calls one of these two offices, and the chances of getting a job this way are probably better than by going ship-to-ship.

The Scandinavian Shipping Office in San Francisco, where I hired on, gives out jobs at 10 a.m. each weekday. Members of the Scandinavian unions are given first preference, experienced nonunion people get second choice and anyone else present can then apply for jobs still unfilled on a first come first served basis. basis.

This puts you on the bottom but—if there's a deckboy opening—you stand a good chance of getting it. A deckboy usually a non-union crew apprentice and his pay ($100 month) is about one-third of a seaman's wages. Only rarely will a Scandinavian union member or an experienced non-member take this job.

Have your passport with you when you go to the shipping office. If you get called, they'll want to see it. If you're aim for a particular place and plan on staying, ask at the US passport office if you'll need a visa. That visa, by the way, will be issued by the foreign country involved and not by the US Government. Most countries have consulates in New York a: . San Francisco (and, sometimes, other cities as well) and only takes a day for most consulates to visa a passport. The proper visa can really save a lot of hassles if you decide to quit ship in a foreign port.