Pay

i was on £105 a month in 1971 as a junior engineer B & C went to Gulf Oil pay went to £205 a month

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Originally Posted by happy daze john in oz

Interesting talking of wages then, but what of todays crews?
Have no idea what container ship crew ae paid, if any, but have some idea on cruise ships pay.

On Princess they are under a form of enterprise bargaining which gives them a reasonable rate.
Overtime is paid once a set number of hours have been worked for the month.
Most will tell you they are far better off then working ashore, many are from Philippines, Croatia, Goa, Indonesia and will tell you that they could never afford to do what they do now on shore side wages.
Most have a house, pay for private medical, send kids to uni, hard to do on $2 a day which is all some get ashore in these countries.

But some get very poorly paid, one drink waiter I met only gets $50 per month, but almost $1 on each drink he sells.

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H.D. in OZ
The average Masters salary these days is in the region of £54K per annum.
On my last vessel the Philippine crew were averaging $2500 p/m.
I met a guy who worked on super yachts and on many the masters salary can be in excess of $100,000 p/a
rgds
J.A.

When I came out here in 1991 H.D. I was on 76,000 A dollars for 6 months work. In uk one of my salarys just previous to this was 33 pounds a day for 12 months. Today would imagine would be over 200,000 A dollars a year for the same 6 months. ABs were on over 50 grand offshore for 6 months. Was a shortage of certificates and rarely worked 6 months only. Never paid less than 40,000 dollars tax after the first year here which was not a full tax year. The conditions I would say the best I have ever seen. In fact if you weren't used to were an embarrassment. Soon got used to being embarrassed. Seamen out here were walking away with 500,000 dollars redundancy for 25 years service, and the best of luck to them. JWS

in 1966 a B&C senior chief engineer was on £5,000 p.a. the master on 10% more , when I left the sea twenty years later that was 5x higher at £25,000 , so in the last 30 years on John's fugues it has only doubled , where ashore the pay seems to have trebled

Rob the wages and conditions offshore was not the same as deep sea . On a supply ship in 1984 I was on 18000 pounds a year and on 1 on 1 off. In 1988 through force of circumstances I was on 33 pounds a day with a week off every 4 weeks. This was one of the better paid standby companies who paid what they wanted. There were no union recognition. It was a job and nothing more. On FG and foreign flag vessels I went with whoever paid the most. When I came back in British flag vessels the only way I could get the wages up as mate was to insist on full seniority rates which put the salary up to just under a junior master. This was when jobs were hard to get in any case. Over a 50 year period I have been master on 30 plus ships including short periods on 3 deep sea vessels. The best paid condition and pay wise, for all hands have been the Australian vessels. What the seamans union couldn't do in the uk , they made a. Good job of it out here.Enough to see me out anyway. For #64 correction for tax correction never less than 30000 dollars tax. Cheers JWS.

Have just. Found an old Agreement from Tidewater which corresponded to the pay schemes on the Australian coast in 1996. This agreement might have bits missing as at the time just tore off the sheets I wanted to retain..
Without Prejudice.
Engine Room Duty For Integrated Ratings.
The parties agree that these guidelines for Integrated Rating ( I.R.) duties on vessels covered by the Maritime Industry Offshore Oil and Gas Operations Award 1991 be supported by all parties.
1...Background.
Historically, Greasers have been employed to fill the role of greaser / seaman on board offshore vessels. With the introduction of IRs all seafarers employed are now trained to work and to perform all roles.
2...Shipboard Management Committee
The IRS are allocated duties where most need exists as determined by the Shipboard Management Committee.
The Shipboard Management Committee on Drilling Rigs and Drill Ships shall comprise the Master, Chief Engineer, 1st. Mate , 2nd Engineer, Chief IR and Chief Steward. On offshore vessels with lesser Manning, it shall comprise the Master,ChiefEngineer and a representative of the IRS on board.
3.. GreaserSeaman.
For all vesselsthat have been crewedby ABs and Greasers, the following guidelines have applied for the role and duties of the Greaser/Seaman
I. Australian MinesandMetals letter1980 ( Working as a unit and Greaser /Seaman primary duties)
II...Seaman Union letter 3 June1980 ( acceptance letter)
4. Goes on about the guide lines and the Shipboard Management Committee. Allocation of duties etc.
Support vessels
Renumeration .. Division 1. Division 2
Master. Aust. Dollars. 90,146. 96456
Ch, Eng. 88,343. Don't have
Mate 2. Eng. 80,230.
2 Mate3 Eng. 72,116
IR. 59,497
The crewing of all support vessels covered by this schedule shall be
1. Master
1. Mate
1. Ch.Eng.
1. 2 Eng.
5. IRS
Carriage of extra personnel
Total on board exceeds 12. 13- 18. 1 cook
19 or more. 2 cooksplus 1 cateringrating
Wheretotal on board exceeds17 persons, the. Following allowances shall apply.
18- 27. 8dollarsperdayworked
28 or more. 16 dollars a day worked.

Leave swings shall be on the basis of....Southern water operations 4 weeks on 4 weeks off
All other areas 5 weeks on and 5 weeks off.
Trainees got if remember correctly 50 per. cent of the wage for an IR I think for 12 months.
There were other remunerationsof course when on construction when money was about doubled.
This was taken from an agreement with Tidewater but whatever company it was it was the same as was formulated by the 3 maritime unions that existed in my time. Another bit just found the standard for working hours in the offshore industry is 12 hours a day, 7 days per week. The wages quoted refer to the wages to those permanently employed by that company who also put money into your retirement fund. If you went casual you didn't get this but instead got 25 per cent more on whatever Is quoted on the renumeration on this post.
My last 2 years went casual, and instead of contributing think it was 5 per cent to the union only paid 2 percent. What the wages are today I wouldn't have a clue as this was nearly 20 years ago. Division 2 was anchor handling vessels and Division 1. Straight supply. There were other vessel types but were all within the parameters as stated.

JWS

yes, counted out by an officious little prat who begrudged every penny

As regards allotments paid to Wifes/family’s in 1962 my wife had to collect at the owners offices every month along with all the other allotment collectors. JWS

Good job it was a local firm John it would have been a long way to Leadenhall Street every month

They could have sent it by postal order Rob if you paid for the stamp. JS