# Wage earned by AB on Canadian freighter in 1949



## mary75 (Mar 7, 2014)

Can anyone tell me how much an AB would earn on the Waitomo, Canadian Australian agent, in 1949? (Am working on a new Young Adult Fiction booK. Thanks.


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## John Rogers (May 11, 2004)

In the UK he was getting 30 pounds a month, that's if my memory is correct. Canada not sure.

It was also $4.00 dollar's to the pound back in those days, then the de-evaluation came and it was $2.98 to the pound. It happened 2 days before we docked in Baltimore.


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## mary75 (Mar 7, 2014)

*Thanks for info. re. UK wage*

In 1949, would that be about $750.00 a month? (I'm basing my calculation on one lb. = $2.00. (Not sure that was the equivalent -just guessing.)


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## mary75 (Mar 7, 2014)

Please check my math out for me. I work that out to $120.00 a month. Surely I'm wrong! Blame it on my age, 85, but no wonder the men went on strike.


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## John Rogers (May 11, 2004)

mary75 said:


> Please check my math out for me. I work that out to $120.00 a month. Surely I'm wrong! Blame it on my age, 85, but no wonder the men went on strike.


That's what I came up with, not sure what the Canada dollar was worth then, hard to find any info on Google. Forget about your age, use your fingers and toes, I do and I'm 84.

I'm still going to find the correct answer.(Thumb)


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## mary75 (Mar 7, 2014)

Thanks, John. I got a good chuckle out of that. I remember earning $31.00 a week, plus one meal and uniforms, frying fish and chips. That was in the summer of 1949. (I was trying to earn the $120.00 tuition fee to go into nurses' training. My brother finally paid the fee for me.) It means that I was earning more at the White Spot than my boyfriend who was sailing deep-sea. Doesn't seem fair!


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## John Rogers (May 11, 2004)

mary75 said:


> Thanks, John. I got a good chuckle out of that. I remember earning $31.00 a week, plus one meal and uniforms, frying fish and chips. That was in the summer of 1949. (I was trying to earn the $120.00 tuition fee to go into nurses' training. My brother finally paid the fee for me.) It means that I was earning more at the White Spot than my boyfriend who was sailing deep-sea. Doesn't seem fair!


While hunting for answers I found this story, check out the link.


http://www.cnrs-scrn.org/northern_mariner/vol05/tnm_5_4_19-36.pdf


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## mary75 (Mar 7, 2014)

*Thank you!*

This is an excellent link, which I've bookmarked, and it will keep me on the right path. Thank you for your diligence. Lots of good stuff here.


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## spongebob (Dec 11, 2007)

Mary, as an aside , the Union Steamship Company of NZ's website lists the Waitomo as being built in Vacouver in 1944 and launched as the "Sunnyside Park". She transferred to the USSCo NZ in 1946 and renamed "Waitomo" and spent 17 years on the run between the North American west coast and Australian and NZ ports. She was sold to a Panamanian shipping co in 1963 then broken up in 1967.
The website tells us that she was manned by Australian and NZ officers and a Canadian crew.
She was a regular visitor to Auckland in my time and usually arrived with huge deck cargoes of sawn Cedar and Redwood timber , a delightful smell if you passed within 100 yards.
This cross nationality manning must have caused some bother unless the three nations had some equality of pay rates or the crews served on the best rate.
There was some disparity between UK and NZ rates in the 40's and 50's, In 1957 I joined NZ shipping co's Rangitane on British articles as a junior engineer on 37 pounds 10 shillings per month with no overtime payments and at the end of that year I joined a USSCo coastal collier as 4th engineer on about 62 pounds per month plus overtime payments for any hours over 8 per day plus a days leave for every Sunday at sea. Earlier rates must have been proportional.

Bob


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## mary75 (Mar 7, 2014)

This is all very interesting, thank you very much. What a difference in wages paid. I like the details of the redwood and cedar. They must have picked up the redwood in California; it’s not grown in British Columbia, though the cedar is. You've give me much to think about. All of the crew I knew are dead, sorry to say. I wish I'd asked them earlier on about what it was like to sail deep-sea.


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## Split (Jun 25, 2006)

mary75 said:


> This is all very interesting, thank you very much. What a difference in wages paid. I like the details of the redwood and cedar. They must have picked up the redwood in California; it’s not grown in British Columbia, though the cedar is. You've give me much to think about. All of the crew I knew are dead, sorry to say. I wish I'd asked them earlier on about what it was like to sail deep-sea.


I was first year apprentice on Haligonian Duke, Halifax N.S. Counties SM paid our crew, signed on in W.Hartepool, British wages. When we signed on she was Fort Capot River.

When we got to Melbourne we were involved in a dock strike which kept us tied up in Victoria Dock for five months. The gripe was about our cargo of coal, originally, because it was considered to be a strikebreaking cargo--the miners were out, at the time but, in the end, our crew struck for Canadian pay. The ringleaders were arrested and, finally, we discharged the coal and sailed with some replacement crewmembers.. They were all on Canadian pay from then until we got back t Europe.

It's long time ago and my memory has got rusty. However, on another note, the UK took its currency off the gold standard, pegged at four dollars to the pound, and let it float. This made a profitable difference to everyone, except me. I still received the same six odd quid per month.

If you can research the Melbourne press for that time, you might get some useful information. 

Hope that helps.


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## mary75 (Mar 7, 2014)

Thanks! You guys are the greatest! Now, more questions (sorry). What year were you an apprentice? Apprentice to what? Counties SM - who or what is that? Was that dock strike in Victoria in the year 1949? I'll research the Melbourne press, as you suggest.


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## mary75 (Mar 7, 2014)

*Message for Split*

Split, I've accessed your posts and found answers to my questions there. Your posts make interesting reading. I haven't read them all yet, but will.


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## Terry Rose (Jul 26, 2006)

The memorialuniversity of newfoundland[mun] may have in their collection, the ships articles for Waitomo and/or her running mates Waihemo and Waitemata.The articles would set out the wages to be paid to ABs and other personnel. In the early post war years the 3 "Wai"s were owned by Canadian Australasian Line then Canadian Union Line and port of registry was vancouver. MUN have a large library of articles and ships logs so they might be worth a try.
www.shipspotting.com has photos of waihemo/waitomo and waitemata


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## mary75 (Mar 7, 2014)

*Thank you, Terry Rose*

I appreciate the leads you've given me. I saw the photos you referred to and am going to get in touch with the Memorial University of Newfoundland re.the ship's articles. Your help is much appreciated!


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## Cisco (Jan 29, 2007)

Split said:


> I was first year apprentice on Haligonian Duke, Halifax N.S. Counties SM paid our crew, signed on in W.Hartepool, British wages. When we signed on she was Fort Capot River.
> 
> When we got to Melbourne we were involved in a dock strike which kept us tied up in Victoria Dock for five months. .....
> 
> ...


Lots about the Haligonian Duke in the Argus...
start here http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/22766416

Fascinating times in Melbourne and Australia... 60 something year old copies of the Argus have been my daily read for a while now..


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## YM-Mundrabilla (Mar 29, 2008)

Split said:


> I was first year apprentice on Haligonian Duke, Halifax N.S. Counties SM paid our crew, signed on in W.Hartepool, British wages. When we signed on she was Fort Capot River.
> 
> When we got to Melbourne we were involved in a dock strike which kept us tied up in Victoria Dock for five months. The gripe was about our cargo of coal, originally, because it was considered to be a strikebreaking cargo--the miners were out, at the time but, in the end, our crew struck for Canadian pay. The ringleaders were arrested and, finally, we discharged the coal and sailed with some replacement crewmembers.. They were all on Canadian pay from then until we got back t Europe.
> 
> ...


Mary,
You could try the National Library in Canberra re the strike as they have heaps of digitised newspapers going back for ages. You might get lucky.
http://trove.nla.gov.au/
Regards
Geoff (YM)

Edit: Thanks Cisco you just beat me to it. 
I agree that there is a mountain of stuff on Trove.


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## mary75 (Mar 7, 2014)

Thanks to Cisco and YM Mundrabilla for the great information and for their guides to Australian newspaper coverage of that time. I didn't know such resources existed. The Vancouver (B.C. Canada) press has supplied me with March 1949 copies of "Along the Waterfront," which was a daily column of shipping news and also some related articles on strikes in London, related to the Canadian Seamen's Union. Sad to report, both the Canadian government and the shipping companies (and the Mounties) brought in an American gangster from New York, Hal Banks, to support the Seaman's International Union. They broke the CSU, which had been the Union that had had the majority of members. It was an offshoot of McCarthyism in the USA.


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## turnagra (Jun 20, 2016)

*S S Waitomo*

Hi

I realise that I am coming on this topic a year late, but the ship name S S Waitomo and its trade and, particularly, officers are of considerable interest to me. I am a scientist, non-nautical, but a member of the crew of Waitomo in late 1954 was probably responsible for one of the most unusual bird records ever. A "W. Trillo" collected a New Zealand shining cuckoo 400 nm north of North Cape, NZ, on or about 22 October 1954. The vessel was out of Vancouver for Melbourne, where she docked 28/29 October. As the USS site shows, she was built as a Victory ship, a single screw steamer of 10 knots. That would have put her in the right place at the right time, but I would VERY much like to know, by locating a crew list, if that person was aboard. They had to be pretty sharp, to recognise that the bird would be interesting and to keep it in good shape (probably in a freezer) until she docked a week or so later. The skin is in the Museum of Victoria, Melbourne, and the bird was in such good condition that they were even able to weight it before it was skinned.
I am researching the migration(s) of this species and this bird is a key piece in the puzzle.

If anyone out there knows where I can find a crew list for S S Waitomo, or knew or knew of Mr Trillo, I would be MOST interested to hear.

Thank you!

Turnagra


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## Somerton (Oct 24, 2008)

In 1958 as an ab on the Port Vindex I was getting £ 38-00 per month and £0-2shillings and 9 pence an hour overtime . 

Alex C .


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## mary75 (Mar 7, 2014)

An interesting post, turnagra. I hope you get some the info. you want. Would the shipping company keep a list of their crew in their archives?


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