Gathering Clouds

In New York harbor, the Washington, one of the two largest U.S. passenger liners, was getting ready to sail for England. At the last minute the sailing was canceled. Reason: the United States Lines, which runs the Washington for the War Shipping Administration, had refused to fire an assistant purser whom the crew, members of the C.I.O.'s National Maritime Union, did not like. So members of the N.M.U. refused to sign on the Washington. The War Shipping Administration ordered the Washington sent to a shipyard for reconversion to peacetime travel.

The Washington was not the only vessel which could not sail. Only 139 ships were loading or unloading cargo at New York's miles of docks. But there was a total of 567 ships in the port (v. a wartime peak of 486). Another 101 ships were anchored in the Hudson River as far north as Tarrytown.

All these anchored vessels were so much evidence that the biggest port in the world was well on its way toward what might be the biggest tie-up in its history.

Some of the ships were idle because of a shortage of crews or cargoes, the cumulative effect of the grain shortage and the coal and railroad strikes.

Where cargoes and crews were available, loading and unloading were often slowed down by featherbedding practices of the stevedores of the International Longshoremen's Association, A.F.L. One shipowner estimated that the average loading rate had dropped from 30 to 13 tons per gang per hour.

Shipping circles suspected that the growing paralysis of the port was part of the master plan to soften up the shipowners for the C.I.O. maritime unions' strike, set for June 15. Also unionists wanted to delay sailings so as to be ashore if & when their strike is called. "Flash strikes" on ships over petty grievances were becoming increasingly frequent.

Both I.L.A. and N.M.U. headquarters vigorously denied that there was any overall slowdown. Whether or not the tie-up was union-made, there was not much point in more ships coming into the congested harbor. After cargoes are again available, it would take weeks to load those ships already in port.

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