238 OCEANOGRAPHY IN THE UNITED STATES 



service laws and their only operation has been to see that these rules 

 and regulations ^Yere enforced, and I don't think they have gone be- 

 yond that. I know it is a finely operated thing. Some of the scientists 

 belong to it. I felt it was well organized, and the unions are here to 

 stay and you have to get along with it. 



Mr. Drewry. Do you have an ocean-going master's license? 



Captain Hiller. Yes, I do, I have been going out as master. 



Mr. Drewry. How long have you been going to sea ? 



Captain Hiller. I graduated from the Massachusetts Institute in 

 1940. I have been going to sea since then. 



Mr. Drewry. Are you a member of the Masters, Mates, & Pilots 

 Union ? 



Captain Hiller. No, I was during the war, but since the war I 

 have not been reinstated. 



Mr. Drewry. How were the pay scales worked out for the crew? 



Captain Hiller. I can't tell you, I don't know exactly what they 

 were before. In my own case, the master's pay, I believe is consider- 

 ably less than the skipper gets on a commercial fishing boat. I haven't 

 complained about that, but I know it is considerably less than I would 

 get in the merchant marine. But in a merchant ship you are out to 

 make money and the pressure is considerably more than it is on a fish 

 and wildlife vessel. 



Mr. Drewry. When was that raised ? 



Captain Hiller. I can't give the date exactly, but I think about 

 the last week in January. We were out at sea and got back and 

 were told the vessel was to be laid up March 9. Then tlie next day 

 there was a pay raise. We were told the wage board had made a 

 study of boats doing comparable work and they came up with a new 

 wage scale. My own went up from $7,500 to $9,000. 



Chairman Miller. Was this increase the result of any pressure on 

 the part of the union ? 



Captain Hiller. To my knowledge, no, because the union members 

 on the ship had told me I had better be prepared for a little cut, 

 because some of the Hiliners in Boston had not done so well. I don't 

 think even with the new wages the fishermen were overpaid, consid- 

 ering the time they put in. If they are going to base it on the fishing 

 industry, and that is what it would be, it should be based on the for- 

 mula comparable to the fishing fleet. 



Mr. Drewry. Is the work of the crew on a research vessel compa- 

 rable to that on a commercial fishing vessel ? 



Captain Hiller. It is much different than commercial fishing, you 

 handle much more than just fish nets. We go for scallops, plankton, 

 and it calls for a wider knowledge than just commercial fishing. But 

 when we are in port here and we pick up a fisherman in New Bedford 

 to make a trip witli us, he is good on the fishing, but not good on han- 

 dling the other material the scientists use. Our men are not under 

 the same strain a commercial vessel is because we are not out catching 

 fish to make a living. Their pay check is there if they just sit on the 

 dock. I don't have it here, but I have a schedule of the trips made 

 this year, and there were very few days in port. AVhen we were sched- 

 uled to go out we went out. I believe the Woods Hole men have made 

 two trij)s on the Delaware, but I know some research men have been 

 dropped because no ship was available. 



