OCEANOGRAPHY IN THE UNITED STATES 237 



it was fairly well agreed by both parties that their wages should be 

 based on a like industry, which was the fishing fleet, and that is the 

 way it lias been done. 



I think if you gentlemen will get right at the merit of the state- 

 ments given to the men on the ship as the reasons they were laid off, 

 the fact that the ship came under the Coast Guard requirements, it 

 seems to me there is a thread running all through the story that can 

 be traced to the fact that the union came in. I don't know if that 

 is a fact, but I think if I was a Senator and got a letter about it I 

 would say lay up the Albatross, I have heard too much about this 

 already. 



I think there was a letter written to the Senators, and so forth, also 

 to the Coast Guard in Boston, stating because of poor seamanship 

 and poor handling the lives of the crew aboard were put in jeopardy 

 due to the fact that we got a net caught in one of our screws while 

 out at sea. It was during my experience with it and certainly I 

 know I called the Coast Guard myself and had them on the w^ay while 

 we were dead in the water before we cleared it ourselves. But some- 

 one wrote a letter and signed it, "The crew of the Albatross,''^ and a 

 gentleman was sent up from Washington and spent 2 days in Woods 

 Hole talking to every member of the crew. I was the last one he 

 talked to and when I told him my story he said he had heard the same 

 thing from every member of the crew, that catching a net was one 

 of tlie hazards of the game. He said he was convinced no one on the 

 ship wrote the letter and someone else wrote it. But there was a 

 crowd all over the ship and someone said we weren't going out until 

 an investigation was held, and it was clear that someone outside wrote 

 that letter. If they had gotten the truth they might have kept the 

 ship going. I don't think it was clear in Washington that letter 

 would not have been written unless something was done about wages 

 prior to that. 



That is about all I can say, but I could keep talking for hours, 

 maybe because I know so little about it. 



Mr. Drewry. Captain Hiller, what union is it you are speaking of ? 



Captain Hiller. I am speaking of the Government Em])loyees' Un- 

 ion. Incidentally, I am not a member, I can tell you I have been 

 asked to become a member. But the old skipper was a meml^er, and 

 when I went aboard the ship I decided I couldn't join unless all the 

 crew members, the scientists and all, joined the union because I 

 couldn't fairly represent everybody. I felt I could act as a more 

 effective and impartial liaison between the management and the crew, 

 and as such I did not join the union. I felt that I would be able to 

 fulfill my obligations to both parties better if I was not too closely 

 allied to either one. I believe I was to some extent successful in my 

 attempt to bring about a close cooperation between the ship and the 

 laboratoi-y. I felt I had gained the confidence of both my superiors 

 and my crew, and of course this a first requisite for the smooth run- 

 ning of a ship. 



I had a chap on several times, you hear about Jimmy Hoft'a, and 

 he thought when the union took over the ship it was having a terrible 

 operation, but this isn't so. I think that is one of the best operated 

 local unions I ever heard of. They hold meetings once a month and 

 I could say it was felt the union was well run. There are civil 



