Document 0qXEox7OnkY44ezeVNM833DNd

PUBLISHED BY THE MARINE DIVISION, HUMBLE OIL & REFINING COMPANY Vol. 7, No. 10 June 3, 1965 Amendment No. 4 Gentlemen of the Fleet, it's our pleasure here to be the hearer of glad tidings. At least we think they're glad and we hope you will, too. Representatives of the Esso Seamen's Associa tion and the Company agreed May 26 on terms of an extension of their current agreement, the new document being known as Amendment No. 4. The Amendment becomes effective on May 26, 1965 if it is ratified by ESA members, and runs until Aug. 31, 1968. It is, if we may say so, quite a package, especially when you consider it together with all the other conditions of employment with Humble. There are several brand new features in the Amendment and improvements of existing ones which, without further ado, we will try to explain. Special Supplemental Pay The Company will pay a special supplement to unlicensed Marine employees or make the payment to their Thrift Fund accounts at the following yearly rates: Effective Dates 6/1/65 6/1/66 6/1/67 Entry ratings (OS, MM, UM) Key and qualified ratings (AB, DM, Oiler, FWT, Bos'n, Pump.. MM/2P. Ch. Cook. 2nd Cook) $160 200 $320 400 $480 600 The Special Supplement will be part of your normal earnings and will be handled in this way. The balance remaining after deductions for taxes and contributions to the Annuity and Thrift plans will be paid monthly to the Thrift Plan Trustee as a Special Contribution to your account. How ever, you may, by notifying the Company, choose to have the Special Supplement paid directly to you, in which case payments will be made every 6 months. The main thought behind the Special Supple ment is to give you an additional means of build ing an estate either by using the Special Thrift Fund Contributions to purchase Company stock or allowing the cash to build up (with interest) so you will have a larger "nest egg". Interest on the cash (4.56% in 1964) and dividends on the stock are NOT taxable as current income. Thus, over the years, you can get more interest on the interest and more dividends on the dividends. At time of retirement you could use this special fund to purchase additional annuities*. Sea Service Allowance This is another new provision. It means that, beginning at normal retirement age you will receive an additional $2 per month for life for each full year of sea service prior to Jan. 1, 1966. Sea service means credited sendee aboard the deep-sea tankers of the Company or its predecessor or affiliated companies. Paid leave time counts too, of course. For an unlicensed man retiring early, the $2 per month per year of sea service v'ould be re duced to the same per cent of $2 as shown in the table below under the sub-head "Improved Early Retirement Benefits". For example, a seaman re tiring at age 60 with 20 years' credited sea service prior to 1/1/66 would receive $34 per month in addition to his other annuities (.85 x $2x 20). To be eligible for the Sea Service Allowance, you must have annuitant status (15 or more years of credited service) when you retire and be rep resented by the Esso Seamen's Association. Also relating to retirement is the Company's agreement for the life of this contract to approve a request for early retirement from any employee at least 55 years old and with 20 or more years' service. Overtime for Pumpmen Pumpmen and Maintenance Mechanic/Second Pumpmen will be paid $2.47 per hour for any required work over 8 hours in any one day. * An example of this kind of annuity, in case you are hazy about it, is this -- at age 65 you pay an insurance com pany $13,000, more or less, and they will pay you $100 per month for life. EXX-MOR-006958 Lisso] gg-H+it ml OS Sidney Schmidt, Esso Scronton This is McLeod Road in Karachi, West Pakistan, we are told, wherein 3-wheeled taxis are plying (except the one by the "No Parking" sign), and the Esso Oval marks the offices of Esso Standard Eastern Inc. The Esso Scranton arrived at Karachi on April 29, just one month out of Baton Rouge, made Chittagong, East Pakistan May 10 and Bahrain, on the Persian Gulf, the 24th. She left on May 26 with an MSTS cargo scheduled for Rota, Spain about June 1 1. After that it looks like the U. S. Gulf, July 1. Layoff Allowances Unlicensed men with 2 or more years of con tinuous service who are laid off due to lack of work will receive a layoff allowance as follows: Years of Continuous Service 2 to 5 years 6 through 10 years 11 through 15 years 16 years and over Weeks of Pay One week's pay for each year. 5 weeks' pay plus 1% weeks' pay for each year over 5. 121/2 weeks' pay plus 2 weeks' pay for each year over 10. 22% weeks' pay plus 21/ weeks for each year over 15. If a regular employee is to be laid off, he will be given 6 month's notice. He will then have a choice of continuing to work for those 6 months or accepting a lump sum payment of 6 months' normal earnings. In either case, he will also receive the layoff allowance for which he qualifies in the table above. If a regular unlicensed employee becomes sub ject to demotion because of a surplus in his rating, he may accept the demotion or resign and take the layoff allowance for which he qualifies plus 6 months' earnings in a lump sum. To receive the allowances, however, he must have held a position on the applicable seniority list for at least 1 year immediately before he became sur plus in his rating and he must accept this option within 30 days after being notified that he is surplus in the rating. Improved Early Retirement Benefits A Company-wide improvement in the Benefit Program (not specifically a part of this Agree ment) was also announced on May 26, to take effect on July 1. There are 6 main areas affected by the improvements and you will hear more about them later. For the present we will touch only on the increased annuity income available to those who retire before age 65. The following table shows the new and old rates of payment under the Retirement Annuity Plan for early retirement ages. If you retire at age You receive for each $1 of normal retirement income instead of (old rates) 64 63 62 61 60 59 58 57 56> $.97 .94 .91 .88 .85 .78 .71 .64 .57j $.91 .83 .76 .70 .64 .59 .55 .51 .47 That's about it, gents. It is quite a package, don't you think? Esso New Orleans -- A Symbol? A New York newspaper. The Journal of Commerce, published a fat issue on May 21 in observance of 'World Trade Week and National Maritime Day (May 22). Under a headline "Symbol of U. S. Maritime Progress'' was a pic ture of the Esso New Orleans with a caption giv ing a brief description of the ship and ending with this sentence: "The tanker's presence in the U. S. North Atlantic on Maritime Day is a symbol of America's deep-sea cargo carrying capability." We appreciate the compliment but it seems to us that the Esso New Orleans' presence in the North Atlantic is a hellovalot more than a sym bol. Her presence is a solid fact brought about by the cooperative efforts of naval architects; engineers; our Marine Division management, Operations and Traffic Depts., and, most directly, the men who sail her. TAFFRAIL TALK Pipelines to the docks at Baytown were likely a little warm from friction last month -- so much product was surging through them. In 5 days and 3 hours, May 12-17, 3,094,801 bbls. moved across the docks, an average for the period of over 25,000 bph. Of the total, the Esso Baltimore accounted for nearly one million bbls., discharg- ESSO FLEET NEWS is published for the _ seagoing em ployees of the Marine Division, Humble Oil & Refining Co.: Joseph Andreae, General Manager; Sydney Wire, Assistant General Manager. W. E. Gardner. Editor. Contributions and suggestions are invited and should be addressed to The Editor, Esso Fleet News. Humble Oil & Refining Co, P. O. Box 1512, Houston, Texas 77001. EXX-MOR-006959 ing 707,111 bbls. on May 12 and 16 and loading 290,420 bbls. on the 17th. Close to another mil lion bbls. (927,700) were loaded in the 67,800 dwt. Esso Houston and Esso New Orleans. *** Captain C. Paul Sperl is lending a hand to Captain Robert F. Stap with the duties of the Port Captain's office while Captain Frank L. Hooper is recovering from a spinal operation. Captain Hooper is up and about and doing "fairly well". ** * In addition to the Esso Washington going to the West Coast this month (loading at Pasca goula, Miss, about the 7th for LA and Seattle), we will have the Esso Lexington doing the same. The Lexington loaded a MSTS cargo at Punta Cardon, Venezuela (near Amuay) May 30-31 for discharge at San Diego and Seattle. She is due at the latter port on the 14th, the Washington on the 25th. ** * Meanwhile, the Esso Dallas was due to dis charge at Guam, June 3 (the Philippine call was cancelled) and then head for the Panama Canal and Aruba (June 30) to load for Piney Point, Maryland, on the Potomac (about July 6). In a letter dated May 14, Captain Emil L. Wigh, of the Dallas, said: "We chased the Esso Seattle but she docked (at Ras Tanura) 4 days ahead of us. Also, the Esso Scranton was only about 170 miles from us on May 7. We spoke to her over the radiotelephone. She was on the way to Chittagong. "As you know," Captain Wigh continued, flatteringly, "we have the monsoon here in the Indian Ocean -- wind always from SW." *** "During my last paid leave," Captain Howard G. McCartney, Master of the Esso Gloucester, writes, "my wife Evelyn presented me with a new crew member -- a very wiggly, bouncing baby girl. Our new hand signed on April 23 and will be named Elizabeth Louise. This brings our crew to 4, not counting the Captain and his Mate. As you can imagine, it was a happy but very busy household I left behind when I returned to the Esso Gloucester this time." Artist in Scrimshaw You don't see much genuine scrim shaw these days and much less do you see it being made. So, it was a surprise to find Third Asst. Archie N. Griffith, of the Esso Newark, with some beautiful and intricate work. Arch has been "fooling around" with engraving and carving whale teeth for about 2 years -- since he got his first ivory from a whaling ship in Aruba. He now buys the teeth by mail at $3 to $15 or $25 each, depending upon size and qual ity. He grinds and polishes the sur face of a tooth, sketches a design on it in pencil and lightly covers the smoothed area with a russet colored ink. Then he hand etches the lines, which show up white, using sail needles fitted into wood handles and a special carbide-tipped engraving tool. The next step is to smear on black India ink, or occasionally another color. When the tooth is rubbed with fine steel wool, the ink re mains only in the etched lines. Final finishing operation is waxing. Arch lives in Clifton, N. J. with his wife Barbara. He has 14 V2 years in the Fleet and has been sailing as Third Asst, for the past 2 years. He has an original Second Asst's License. Two of Mr. Griffith's delicately carved whale teeth. The one below shows a sperm whale with a giant squid [done in red) in its mouth. At left is a picture of a sailing ship figurehead in black and gold. Third Asst. Arch Griffith and some of his scrimshaw. Included is a pipe (not the one in his mouth) carved from 2 pieces of whale tooth and decorated with a tiny carved whale set into the bowl front. i | .1 J We're reprinting this photo (maybe you mis u sed it last year) just in case you want to speed tank cleaning and/or work in a more com fortable temperature when down in a cargo tank. Cifch Pictured is a Coppus blower with an arrow pointing to a return bend on the compressed air ex haust. The purpose of the bend is to direct the exhaust air, which is cool, into the air intake of the blower and thus lower the temperature and possibly increase the volume of the air going into a tank when the blower is in service. The idea was developed by First Asst. Albert T. Fellows, who said that a test showed air going into a tank from a blower was 12 cooler with the return bend attached. How to Send a Radiogram A man at sea is sometimes thought to he prac tically in another world as far as getting in touch with him in an emergency is concerned. This is not necessarily the case. While persons ashore often have difficulty contacting a man aboard ship, the trouble is usually that they do not know how to send a radiogram. Radio Officer Clifford L. Benedict, Jr. has sug gested the procedure below for reaching a man aboard ship in the shortest time and at the least Right Way to Send a Radiogram To a Humble Employee Aboard Ship (1) Only the last name of person aboard ship is needed in most cases. (2) The name of the ship is run together and counted as one word. Example: S. S. ESSO HOUSTON should be ESSOHOUSTON. "S.S." is not necessary. (3) Messages to Company vessels are best routed through RCA's Port Arthur, Texas, radio station. This should be written in the message after the ship name. (4) Messages may be sent by telephone or through a Western Union office. RCA's Port Arthur telephone number is: Area 713, YUkon 5-7921. (5) Only the first name of the person sending the radiogram is needed in the signature if that person is known to the man aboard ship. Example of correct, fastest and most economical radiogram -- DOE ESSOHOUSTON PORTARTHURRADIO EMERGENCY PHONE HOME SALLY cost. Mr. Benedict also pointed out that when the seaman knows the need to communicate with persons ashore, he can usually call by radiotele phone from the ship easier than persons ashore can call him. Mr. Benedict also suggested that these instruc tions be cut out by families or friends of our sea going employees and put in their address books. "I'm sure it will speeed up the receipt of messages from persons ashore and eliminate at least one of the problems of going to sea," he said. RCA's rate for sending a radiogram to a Com pany ship is 33 % cents per word, with a minimum of 7 words. There is also a 10% Federal tax. RECENT RETIREMENTS Second Asst. Engineer Wil liam J. Bouzan retired June 1 with nearly 20 years' service in the Fleet -- years which he said "were the happiest in my life and I only wish I could have 10 more." The "happiest years", of course, refer to those up to now but it could well be (and we hope it will be) that Mr. Bouzan has even happier years ahead. Bill and his wife Helen have a snug little cot tage with log siding and a showpiece fieldstone fireplace in Raymond. Maine. It's located on 8 acres on the NE side of Sebago Lake, about 20 miles NW of Portland. Their home is 400 ft. from the lake and 30 ft. from Panther Run, a stream connecting Raymond Pond and the lake. They also have a rented cottage on the property and Bill is thinking about building more. The area is wooded, scenic and the wildlife includes beaver, otter, deer, bear and waterfowl. Born in Mass. 65 years ago. Bill's mother died when he was 4 and he was raised on his grand father's farm in Nova Scotia. He made a trip to South America in a Nova Scotian barkentine when he was 12, then went to school a little, worked in fishing schooners and served 2 World War I years in the Canadian army. He tried working ashore several times but always returned to the sea, sailing for over 40 years -- 5 on the West Coast. Starting with the Company in Dec. 1938 as Machinist in the George W. Barnes, Mr. Bouzan was li/2 years in the G. Harrison Smith in 1939 41 and Third Asst, in the S. B. Hunt when she was torpedoed in July 1943. He returned to the Fleet in Feb. 1948, after 414 years in WSA vessels and served continuously as Third, Second and First Asst, until his retirement. His last ship was the Esso Lima. i. EXX-MOR-006961