Danger pay

[Red Lead Ted]

Just some imteresting reading here!
Cheers

The Merchant Seamen's War

Just thinking back to an old shipmate of your,s and Relative of mine Terry Fairbrother, He was with you in U.C.L. As I recall our emails. He was Chief Steward aboard the Atlantic Conveyer when she was bombed during the Falkland,s Port Stanley. You know after an experience like that however tough a guy is on the outside I am convinced it contributed to his demise and sadely his premature death. Just goes to show how little recognition Merchant Seaman where given for there sacrifice not just in Loui,s day during world war,s but conflicts that have taken seaman,s lives since 1945. I attended Terry,s funeral service no representation from any Merchant Navy there just family. It beggars belief. I know by my own experience after returning on the Eucadia from what I witnessed in Pakistan regarding the M.V.Harmatten. It was a 12 month voyage from hell and after my 30 odd days leave ...On reporting back to the pool and asking a few questions very very little of the incident was known. I done all my own research on her crew and found who I could. Even our infamous N.U.S. Couldn,t tell me of the incident was it that knowone was informed ?? Or another case of you new what you were getting into when you signed on the bottom line. R.I.P. Them all Terry.

[Dennis McGuckin]

No idea on that one Ted. Don't know any old MN over here to ask.
No one answered about the British MN in WW2?
Maybe I did get extra pay, but sounds like a pittance so most likely didn't notice it. Or just forgot.
Den.
Thanks for the welcome back Stan.

[robpage]

I know there is a paymeny of £125,000 for UK Officers detained or Killed in High risk area , whichg I think covers Somalia , I dug it out of

http://www.nautilusint.org/Shared%20...ort%202012.pdf

I remember the "war Zone " payment in the 1960s as being double pay , for a friend on Shell H Boats taking Avcat to Vietnam , but wa sfairly certain that was just whilst in the zone itself . I had it in mind that during the Falklands the bonus was double or triple pay , whilst on the way too or from as well as time spent in the zone

Personally , you cannot pay me enough to get me into a zone willingly

[Captain Kong]

In WW2
"In 1941 the Merchant Navy paid able-bodied seamen ten pound, twelve shillings and sixpence per month plus a war bonus of ten pounds per month." google

After the war the ship owners tried to stop the war Bonus. This started the 1947 strike by the merchant seamen, led by Billy Hart.
Cheers
Brian

[Stan Carter]

just a follow up to what brian posted, I emailed the royal canadian legion command and requested this info, unfortunatly they were not aware or had any info on this matter. I know there are a few MN vets still around the Ottawa area and will keep this in mind if and when i run into any of them in the coming months. also they refer to it as hazzard award.
regards, stan.

[Lou Barron]

Sorry Dennis that i never answered your question about danger money during the war when i signed on the D/Bedford as a deck boy my wages was 6 pounds 6shilling a month that was every thing .Then when i signed on the G/Castle as a OS it was 8 pounds 10 shillings month all in .
After the war when i signed on the Empire Austen as a SOS in February 1946 the wages was 10.00pounds plus war risk money 10.00 pounds a month unfortunately i do not have my pay of slips on the other ships i signed on and i just don't remember what the pay wsc as i got to a AB but i think it was just over 26 pounds a month .
When we got sunk my pay stopped 17.7 1942 as little was knowed of what happened my mother was informed that we was missing presumed drown but when they found out that we was pows my pay started againand mother started to get her allotments again .Then when i came home i received the balance of my pay ( i thought i was a millionaire)

[Richard Quartermaine]

In January 1947 I signed on the Port Line's Lowlander as boy for five pounds + five pounds War Bonus per month. In August 1947 I signed on SS&A's Raranga as galley boy for the same. As Raranga was a coal burner (with a coal fired stove) the firemen, stokers and trimmers and others down the engine room and the galley crew got a weekly tot of rum in the tropics.

When I signed on SS&A's Moreton Bay in February 1948 as asst steward the war Bonus had been discontinued but it had been added to the monthly pay to make it equal.

Richard

The Merchant Seaman's War
Within two weeks of the outbreak of war British seamen were awarded a war risk bonus (which was effectively paid by the government) of £3 p.m. Early in 1940 this was increased to £5 p.m.

[Dennis McGuckin]

Thanks Louis and Richard,
That clears up a few thing I have often wondered about.
One in particula was pay while a POW.
Thanks guys.
Den.

[Red Lead Ted]

The reason of course for Merchant Seaman being paid extra for being in a war zone, And Matelots not!!!!!!! Is because Royal Navy Seaman could claim compensation for injuries received from the M.O.D.. Merchant Seaman could not. there Were 1,000s of Merchant Seaman injured that never worked again because of there disability,s in those days of course you applied to what was known as the National Assistance Board. My old uncle Bill who was a vet of the Atlantic Convoys spent 30yrs at sea once told me he was visited by the assistance board the first thing they told him to do was sell the piano he had in his front room things have changed alright. Terry.

[Captain Kong]

I remember in Liverpool in 1950 on the wall of the old Custom House that had been flattened in the bombing, it was opposite the old Sailors Home and Pool.
A slogan was painted on it regarding the Seamens Strike of 1947, lead by Billy Hart.
It said the War Bonus should be kept on and an ABs pay should be £28 a month.
I think in 1947 the ship owners were trying to take the War Bonus off and back to a pre war wage.
Brian