AG and MM Board

Did merchant seaman receive extra pay for North Russian convoy duty?

Posted by Russ Webb on January 1, 2009, 7:03 pm

I cannot find the answer on Google, but I do remember being told during WWII that they received an extra five dollars per day for sailing in the Med.

Re: Did merchant seaman receive extra pay for North Russian convoy duty?

Posted by joe shaffer on January 30, 2009, 3:21 pm, in reply to "Did merchant seaman receive extra pay for North Russian convoy duty?"

I was in the armed guard our pay stayed thesame with the exception of recivein 5% overseas pay the merchant marine receiveds bonuses depending on the area we were sailing it was broken up into three sections 33% 66% and 100% it was based on the degree of danger of the area on one ship I was on the merchant seaman had a large map indicating the bonus zones which they kept tract of for payroll purposes

Re: Did merchant seaman receive extra pay for North Russian convoy duty?

Posted by Ron Carlson on January 22, 2009, 3:01 pm, in reply to "Did merchant seaman receive extra pay for North Russian convoy duty?"

I'm no expert on the specifics but merchant seamen received certain pay bonuses in addition to base pay and overtime pay. The book "Liberty - The Ships That Won the War," by Peter Elphick, contains a quote to the effect that merchant sailors received $15 per day for sailing in a designated war zone. They also received additional bonuses for coming under attack, described in the book as "$150 per port" although the meaning of "per port" is not clear to me. (This information appears on page 123 of the book.)

Another book, "The Forgotten Heroes" by Brian Herbert, mentions a bonus payment of $125 for coming under air attack (see page 181).

In any case merchant seamen surely must have received additional pay for service in the North Atlantic convoys to Russia and back.

Ron Carlson, Webmaster
Armed Guard website

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