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my father was a merchant marine in world war ii.

from what he said, merchant marines were paid $ 1,000 per month, as compared to $ 50 month for enlisted navy, even those who were aboard the same ships as merchant marines. that being the case, many enlisted were resentful of such disparate treatment during ww2 and resented certain military and other benefits being subsequently granted to the merchant marines, since the additional compensation they received during the war was intended to serve as their benefit for the high risk being aboard a ship laden with fuel.

im just the messenger here.

im just the messenger here.
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In essence, you are very correct.

The #’s may be a little off but amongst other things, they worked 8 hour shifts and a supposed story was during the heat of battle a MM crew was taking their required ‘break’ and a CO of a ship basically said if he had to send HIS men to finish unloading, he would more or less sink the f’n ship. I am sure a lot of embellishment has been added - for effect - but would imagine the gist of it was true.

That said, the USN types that got to be part of the “Armed Guard” had the same ‘bennies’ offered the MM types..2 or 3 per room, stewards serving them meals but still a big disparagement in pay etc.(again the ‘bennies’ may have varied dependent on the ship etc)

Believe the Navy ‘gave’ them Gunners Mates and Communication Types (RM’s, SM’s, 1 OIC, YN/DK,QM(?))but the everyday routine was run by the MM Crew - including the Ships Master as the OIC was probably never anything more than a LT (O3 (Capt for Army/AF/USMC Types)

Believe they also got OT whereas the USN types were 24/7 for their 50 or so bucks a month.

my father was a merchant marine in world war ii. from what he said, merchant marines were paid $ 1,000 per month, as compared to $ 50 month for enlisted navy, even those who were aboard the same ships as merchant marines. that being the case, many enlisted were resentful of such disparate treatment during ww2 and resented certain military and other benefits being subsequently granted to the merchant marines, since the additional compensation they received during the war was intended to serve as their benefit for the high risk being aboard a ship laden with fuel. I'm just the messenger here.

My Father and his buddies (all retired USN Non-Coms) all bitched about that fact until their deaths. Several had been in the merchant marines and had patriotically joined the Navy and paid a huge financial price for doing so!

. . . from what he said, merchant marines were paid $ 1,000 per month, as compared to $ 50 month for enlisted navy,

I worked with a guy who was in the Armed Guard (USN manning merchant deck guns.) When air raids started everyone went below decks except the Guard, manning the AA guns.

The guy said that in one raid with aircraft and U-Boats, the shop steward was the only civilian on deck, calling out the bonus money, running around yelling "bomb close aboard, that's $50!, torpedo wake, that's $100!" and so on. When the ship made harbor the crew passed the hat around. Sometimes the Guard made out pretty good, other times not a dime.

My dad worked at the Seaman's YMCA in NYC during the war (too old to get in). He spoke with a lot of skippers and crew who told of the horrific voyages they took - if you went into the water during the Murmansk runs you died in minutes from hypothermia, oilers burned you alive. One skipper told my dad that he always wore a life jacket - except when on an ore carrier or an ammo ship. The latter either sank like a rock or vaporized you when they were hit, so he just wore his jammies as he'd never get a chance to get off. Younger guys got in it for the money, but after one trip, if they survived, they went into the service where they felt safer.

All that being said, they were ably compensated and nobody drafted them into the Merchants.