The only reason that I returned to shipping about 6 years ago was because despite a 15 year absence, I still had all the necessary endorsements and certifications to sail as a Chief Steward, which is a department head position that typically paid close to 20K a month with the majority of the contracts offered
a Chief Steward is essentially a maritime version of a hotel manager. My responsibilities included creating a daily menu (breakfast/lunch & dinner), maintaining a supply of beef, poultry, pork, chicken and fish…dairy products, fresh fruits and vegetables, and various perishables and canned goods.
In addition, I supervised a small crew of two cooks and a steward assistant which involved maintaining my own high standards of hot and fresh meals, delegating overtime, and dealing with foreign ship ‘chandlers’ abroad when supplies ran low on extended overseas voyages
Its worth noting that the vast majority of those working in the steward department within the union membership are almost exclusively African Americans from the south, or northeast. Keep in mind I identify as a suburban white male from the California suburbs…so if anyone ever cares to discuss what ‘racism’ really means…well, do the math.
So I flew to Charleston, South Carolina to join what is known as a ‘RoRo’ (roll on roll off) car carrier for ARC/Tote Marine Services. The ship had been subcontracted by DoD to transport desert camo humvees and an assortment of munitions sailing past Gibraltar, up through the Suez Canal and finally through the narrow Strait of Hormuz which is an extremely narrow (but necessary) transit route for oil tankers which is only a few short miles off the Iranian coast.
I joined this ship not long after the Iranians seized a British oil tanker, so needless to say tensions were running high, and in addition to the standard crew of merchant mariners, we were escorting 5 ranking naval intelligence officers and scheduled to pick up these private armed escorts working with a company called ‘Trident Maritime Security’. These guys were basically ex-Greek special forces and two retired U.S. Navy Seals who were tasked with patrolling the ship 24/7 to ensure the Iranians didn’t fuck with us
Ok that should set the table nicely, lets move on…
So in addition to the standard crew of 35, now I’m responsible for feeding another 11 subcontractors, and ‘riders’ with no additional compensation.
When I picked up the ship in Charleston, we were already short a Chief Cook, so it was just myself, a brand new fresh out of school cook on his first trip ever shipping, and my steward assistant Marcel.
So literally 2 hours before our ship sailed towards Gibraltar 11 days away, my one cook freaked out and quit. At the time I wasn’t too upset because our union would pay what is known as ‘missing man’ wages. Which meant Marcel and I would be equally dividing the base wages of the two missing cooks.
Except for one small glitch…
ARC Tote Marine was the ONLY contract our union didn’t provide missing man wages for. So basically not only would I be preparing 3 meals a day by myself for almost 50 grown men, I was still ultimately responsible for my own duties as Chief Steward.
The day after we sailed, I was on the phone with my port agent in Oakland saying in a matter of words, ‘yo what the hell…are you at the very least going to kick Marcel and I a ton of extra OT ?’…only to get dismissed like I was some peasant lucky to have the job in the first place and to suck it up and represent my union pride
Best case scenario I’d be pulling a triple workload without making a dime more, but (sigh) whatever its only 11 days to get my replacement cooks in Gibraltar, so I’ll be a team player and just deal with it like a good little boy.
Except for one small problem…neither job got picked up at the Oakland union hall, and after we left Gibraltar we only had one more stop in Malta before traversing the Strait of Hormuz, and then it was 45 days straight stuck in the cesspool known as the middle east without any chance of filling the two cook jobs
Before I prepare part 2 of this tale, lets just say I was not pleased
TO BE CONTINUED….
