A Merchant marine question just arrived for me on another board.

It's actually sad, really.

A woman about my age wrote and asked me about Merchant Marine records because she wanted some information on the father she never met. She was simply told he was a merchant mariner.

She wanted to know if records were available for her to find out about her history. Can't say as I blame her. It would drive me insane if I were in her shoes.

There's not a whole lot anyone can really do in a case like that. Ships come and go, shipping companies come and go and the current fleet is down to WELL inder 200 US flagged self propelled ships. For most stateside traffic ships have been replaced by tug and barge units. 

In 1950 there were about 2,930 US flagged cargo ships worldwide. That's a lot of jobs and a lot of shipping companies. As they have dropped off a lot of companies and their records have fallen by the wayside.

Truth is there is probably no way to tell who sailed on what vessel in the lae 40s and 50s. 

However, if he did sail in wartime it's likely that the feds may have some sort of records of who sailed where and when during WW2. It's a longshot but it may be worth a shot.

There may also be another reason he didn't step forth.

During my entire career I have been subject to background investigations and things of this sort. It's not like the 40s and 50 back when a person could hop on a ship to disappear for a while until the heat died down. 

Unions were and to some extent still are pretty tight lipped on who they shipped out on what vessel and when. They respected the men's privacy although I'm pretty sure these days they'll probably even tell the lowest level of law enforcement what they want to know.

Decades ago shipping out was a pretty good way of escaping various of life's unpleasantries. Remember that little scuffle you got into where you broke the police chief's favorite nephew's jaw after he started it? How about the girl that announced she was pregnant with your baby? Or maybe the time someone tried to pin a jacket on you and you had to skip town a while.

Shipping out was a pretty good way to get away from the long arm of the law and other things one wanted to escape until the technology age opened up in, say the 70s.

The old stories about the drinken, wild, brawling sailors of yore have followed the industry around to this day. A few years back I was talking to a cop in the New York Harbor area and he told me that a lot of old cops that hear words like 'sailor', 'seaman', 'tugboat' and the like automatically call for a backup. It's not this way anymore.

The Coast Guard does check records, especially for drug related offenses and they deny anyone that doesn't pass muster any documentation which is legally required for employment. The Old Days are long gone.

Of course, there's always another angle on a parent not being in the picture of someone's life. For whatever reason the parent vanished to parts unknown and as the child grew up and asked normal questions it was probably easier to fill in the blank and simply say the father was a merchant mariner. It fills in the blank and in some cases shelters the child from something more unpleasant.

Anyway, the  best guess I could come up with to trace the original question is to contact the Maritime administration in Washington DC. While they may not have the records they may be able to send the woman on the right track.

I wish I could do more to help her.

To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY