Double Pay and Greater Security

Heroes Remember

Double Pay and Greater Security

Transcript

But I found the first ship I was on it took pretty well ten days to two weeks to load and unload. So I signed off there and joined a tanker in England from then on, because it was more money, double pay, so I got more pay from danger money on tankers And I joined the Melina down in Portsmith, said hello to Venezuela, load it with oil and then come back to England. And then I went to Aruba with another tanker and sailed overseas again. So it was just continuation, but tankers was always protected in the convoy cause they were very important to the war effort. So it would take about ten days to two weeks to go across the ocean, but every time there was a submarine scare up in the north, the North Atlantic, we’d go five hundred miles south to get rid of them and then come 500 miles back again. So it wasn’t just a straight line going across with the convoy. You had to deviate your course and follow where the submarines was supposed to be so that was exciting.

Description

Mr. Tanner describes switching to the tanker fleet because the pay doubled and the ships were better protected because of the value placed on fuel.

Allen Tanner

Allen Tanner was born on December 1, 1925 in Halifax, Nova Scotia. After finishing Grade Nine, he went to work for a Norwegian shipping firm on the Halifax dockyard. As a member of the Navy League, he served in an Honour Guard for the Queen when she visited Halifax in 1939. Too young to join the Canadian Merchant Navy, he joined a Norwegian ship, whose crew shortage made him a welcome addition. Mr. Tanner worked on board a freighter, but was lured to work on tankers due to the higher pay they offered.

Meta Data

Medium:: Video
Owner:: Veterans Affairs Canada
Duration:: 1:25
Person Interviewed:: Allen Tanner
War, Conflict or Mission:: Second World War
Location/Theatre:: Atlantic Ocean
Battle/Campaign:: Battle of the Atlantic
Branch:: Merchant Navy
Units/Ship:: D/S Sirehei
Occupation:: Steward

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Date modified:: 2019-06-20