https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Britis...f_World_War_II
Until May 1941 merchant seamen sailing aboard British vessels attacked and sunk by enemy action received no pay (wages) from the moment that their ship sank. If the seaman was fortunate to survive the sinking only to spend days or weeks in an open lifeboat hoping for rescue, it was regarded as "non-working time" and the seaman was not paid for that time because their employer, the shipping company who had owned the lost vessel, no longer required their services