Hawsepiper83 t1_iwer4ds wrote on November 15, 2022 at 2:22 AM

Reply to comment by MrchntMariner86 in TIL that the civilian sailors of the U.S. Merchant Marine had a higher casualty rate during World War II than any branch of the armed forces. by p38-lightning

Damn man, that’s a long hitch. I was on the flip side stuck at home not making money because of no crew changes. It wiped me out until I was finally able to go back. Then I was stuck for months, but not as long as you.

MrchntMariner86 t1_iwf4od5 wrote on November 15, 2022 at 4:06 AM

206 days. I have done a longer one--210--on a non-union boat and boy, that last month is a Hell of a story; rather, a story of a Hell.

But yeah, sailors were desperate on both sides of the coastline. A ship I was on JUST WEEKS BEFORE US lockdowns started happening I later learned had 2 crew (Capt and an Engineer) out of 23 (or so) infected. One died.

It was intense to learn that.