Yep, that they were, although I know of a few nuke boats that would probably earn the name, too. ;^)
There are lots of movies about what it was like to be on one of the old pig boats, but none can convey what it really must have been like to have gone for days without showering, breathing in the stifling stench of the diesels, covered with sweat, grease and brine, sleeping in a rack with your nose six inches from the one above you, being packed into that tiny little can with dozens of guys that stank as badly as you did, and not being able to turn your head without smacking it into some valve or another hanging down from the overhead.
Compared to those, my boat was a palace, even though the largest open space in it was smaller than my bedroom is today.