Work at Sea: How to Get a Freighter Job
(Page 2 of 4)
May/June 1971
The Mother Earth News editors
If you're hired at the shipping office you'll be sent for a physical before you board the freighter. In San Francisco, the examination is made at a place called the Overseas Medical Center and it's nothing to worry about. The whole thing takes an hour and is not very rough (I flunked my draft physical but passed this one easily). You'll be given a vaccination and any other shots you'll need for where you're going and it's all paid for by the shipping company.
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OK. What are your chances of getting a freighter this way? depends . . . on luck, timing and persistence. I caught a vessel the second day I went to the shipping office . . . and I've met a fellow who tried every day for a month (in the fall, the slowest season of the year) before there was an opening for a deckboy. The best time to try is in the spring or summer. Christmas is also good because many sailors want holiday leave
and there's a big turnover in personnel then. For what it's worth, the New York Scandinavian Shipping Office is a lot busier than the one in San Francisco . . . so your chances might be better in the east coast port.
It's important to be at the shipping office when the assignments are given out (10 a.m. in San Francisco). If you're there at any other time your chances of getting a job are practically zero. And don't be discouraged if you get little information and much run-around from the office personnel: They want to spend as little time as possible talking to inexperienced non-union job seekers. The day I was hired they had told me there probably wouldn't be an opening for another eight months. The sailors are the people to talk to if you want straight information.
The ship I worked on was a 10,000-ton (average size) Danish freighter sailing between the west coast, Australia and New Zealand. It was a fairly new and completely modern ship with a crew's lounge, tiled and panelled passageways and carpeted and individually air conditioned cabins. Deckboys were bunked two to a cabin and there was a desk and individual closets in each room.
Deckboys work either in the pantry or on deck with the crew and I did both for a while.
Working in the pantry is terrible. At 6 a.m. you start cleaning the bathrooms and scrubbing passageways outside the crew's cabins. You also set the tables, bring the food from the galley (which is far away), serve, clear the tables and wash the dishes for all meals and coffee breaks . . . for about 16 people. There's a thousand little hassles and a lot of running involved because the crew wants their meals on time but the cook won't fix chow until the last minute because he doesn't want it served cold. The day isn't finished until after 7 p.m. and it's a seven-days-a-week grind. Even with an hour or two free every afternoon, this is a hard job.
Working out on deck with the able seamen is a lot better. The night watchman wakes the crew at 6:30 a.m. and they meet in the messroom for coffee and start work at 7. Breakfast is served at eight o'clock and there's a coffee break at 10. Twelve to one is lunch time with another half-hour break at 3. The workday is finished at 5 o'clock, Saturdays and Sundays are free and you're entitled to two extra days off each month.
