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Article: Merchant navy

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    Merchant navy

    8 Comments by happy daze john in oz Published on 7th September 2019 06:19 AM
    Today September 3rd is for most just another day, it may be a birthday for some, or maybe an anniversary. For the older generation they may recall the day as the start of hostilities in Europe in 1939, the start of WW2.

    But for another group a day of greater significance, for the men of what is often referred to as the fourth or forgotten service.

    It took from 1945 until 2001 for the men of UK, Canada, South Africa and New Zealand to be recognized for what they did. It took until 2008 under the then Rudd government for the same here in Australia.

    Who were these men? Listen now and I will tell you.

    In 1915 Australian troops entered in to battle at Gallipoli, a battle lost before it began.
    We often talk of it, the coming of nationhood for Australia.

    In both world wars we all knew of the Army, Royal Navy and the Air force.
    The three armed forces that won the war for the allies and brought peace to the world.

    All are well recorded and remembered in Shrines and memorials across this and many other nations.

    To them we owe a debt, for without their effort we may well not be where we are today, Free and living in a democratic nation, as are so many other countries, that could well have fallen under the yoke of another nation had the outcome been different.

    We often talk of the gallant men, and many women, who made this possible.
    The nurses in field hospitals who tended the sick and injured and often comforted the dying in their last moments.

    The airmen who never came back from a bombing mission, the sailors who went down with their ships, and the soldiers lost on the battle field.

    On Anzac day and Remembrance day we salute their memories.

    But there was another service that many do not realize existed, a service with out which
    the outcome of both wars may have been very different.

    The men of the forth or forgotten service.

    These were the civilians of the Merchant Navy. The navy made up not of war ships but simple honest cargo ships and passenger liners. At the time of the two world wars the British Merchant Navy was the largest in the world. Made up of crew not just from England, but from Canada, South Africa, New Zealand and Australia. Though these countries had their own Merchant Navies it was the British one that suffered the most loss.

    During the two world wars over 33,000 unarmed civilians, all proud Merchant seamen, made the ultimate sacrifice for the sake of those ashore.

    It was theses brave and gallant men who served on unarmed merchant ships.
    The ships ,that without their effort, the wars may well have gone a different way.

    The ships that carried the munitions for the armed forces, the ships that carried the food for those ashore, or the oil for ships engines. All the components that assisted those at the front to gain the upper hand.

    But theses brave civilians were also at the front, a front that few know of or understand, a front on the open seas.

    A front where without notice the enemy could strike at any time, submarines, like stalkers in the night ,sending their deadly torpedoes towards an unarmed merchant ship.
    Striking often in the dead of night, hitting the ship below the water line killing most of the engine room crew in one blast.

    Men who had no means of escape, who either drowned or were burned to death.
    Men who have no grave but the sea.

    Sending ships with vital equipment and much needed resources to the bottom.

    But this did not kill or remove the resolve of those brave men, men who knowing the risk still ventured on to these ships to ensure that vital resources were delivered.

    Men, who when their ship went down, if they survived that, would spend days in a life boat waiting to be rescued, or as the case of my grandfather, a ships engineer in WW 1, on a life raft for four days before being picked up. One of the lucky engineers, just off watch and on deck for some fresh air.

    Some in dire circumstances, where the enemy surfaced and with machine gun murdered the few survivors, no quarter given here or prisoners taken.

    Brave men, civilians who had decided long before any war to make a life at sea, a life that was to ensure the nation was fed, supplied with all manner of goods needed for daily life.

    It was these men who crewed the troop ships at Gallipoli, who crewed the hospital ships, the fleet tankers bringing much needed fuel to the warships.

    Unlike those in the services they wore no uniform, dressed in civilian clothes they looked no different to any other man in the street. Enjoyed a pint in the local pub, laughed and joked with mates, then said goodbye to family and friends knowing this could well be the last time they met. Yet still they went forth into the unknown.

    They were the deck hands, the ships engineers, the cooks and waiters, all nedded to ensurte the smooth running of the ship.

    Then for those families left behind the, terrible news that the ship their loved one was on had gone to the bottom of the ocean. No closure for them, no grave site to visit.

    Men such as those of the crew of the Cunard liner Lusitania, which on 7 May 1915 was torpedoed by a German submarine resulting in the loss of passengers and crew, of the 1962 on board only 761 survived.
    Such was the daily risk taken by these men.

    But they stood tall and wore their position with pride, a pride that told the world just who they were and what they did. Men who so proudly sailed under the Red Ensign, the flag of the British Merchant Navy still in use today on many ships.

    Monday September 3 is Merchant Navy day across all Commonwealth nations.
    We of the forth service ask, that on this day you spend a few moments to reflect of the efforts and sacrifices made by these brave men.

    Brave men who made the ultimate sacrifice so you can enjoy today, the freedom of a democratic nation.

    They have no grave but the sea, no headstones but the waves above.

    Lest we forget.
    Happy daze John in Oz.

    Life is too short to blend in.

    John Strange R737787
    World Traveller

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    Default Re: Merchant navy

    Dont forget the many Norwegian merchant ships that sailed for the UK

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    Default Re: Merchant navy

    A wonderful eulogy for all of us to dwell on. Thank you for this important reminder of the tragic loss of all those brave men who gave their life to set us free.

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    Default Re: Merchant navy

    John, I echo whole heartedly your sentiments. I lived in Turkey for three years looking after shipping safety for my Company. On the 99th anniversary of Gallipoli I was invited to attend. We arrived early for the memorial service at the commonwealth grave site. I spent quite some time looking along the many names for any merchant seamen killed. There are many names shown, right through all ranks and positions but no merchant seamen that I could see. There must have been - fishing crews from the east coast used with their boats sweeping mines, hospital ships, and the initial invasion ships. Other vessels also - but none shown. It was a sobering moment when Cannon John Higgins from Carlisle Cathedral officiated the service of remembrance. There were I think less than a dozen civilians on that mound, quite a few military, this was not an event attended by many from the UK. Sobering to recall that mound contained the bodies of some 30,000 people. The next day began early at the Australian memorial, Gallipoli was a major event for Australia, and is remembered very actively by families from all over Australia, the ceremony was very well organized and thoughtful. In the afternoon a much smaller event was held by New Zealand. It felt very much more personal. The land gained in the battle by the New Zealanders was hard fought, and sitting there by the memorial it felt very personal and very real. For all the events one was aware of how much organization had gone into them - and much more of a debt that can never be repaid. It was earlier however, after the ceremony at the Commonwealth grave that one of the ships I was looking out for sailed past. I happened to be at one of the Krupp gun positions, looking down the barrel at a ship on which I knew the crew. I reflected on the enormous risks faced by all in those days with the hillside bristling with guns. I also reflected on the many other ships passing that day whose crews I did not know. I reflected on the fishing crews drafted for minesweeping duties, and who objected to being sent in to remove mines under fire on unarmed ships. John has done a service in raising a part of the Merchant Navy contribution which is much overlooked.

    Today it is our turn to honour those in whose wakes we follow.

    Robert Weeks R882827

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    Default Re: Merchant navy

    Hi John, I've just read your MN article from last year! Agree with all of it and would like to add a comment that there 1000's of crewmen from other countries eg Lascars etc. who were in amongst it all. As an old North Shields lad, I recall that we were told that, between the wars, South Shields had the largest ****** population for a time, in the Western world. Can't back it up with figures, but I can certainly believe it. We would have been lost without them all.

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    Default Re: Merchant navy

    A different breed of men.

    Often heard is never did a ship not sail for the lack of a full crew.
    These were not the cruise ship waiters etc that came later but,
    those that earned a crust and saved a Nation.

    K.


    ADDED:

    “WE REMEMBER THEM” Ships of The British Merchant Navy, Captains and Crew and loved ones including the lesser well known and the many. May they not be forgot.

    Her names were SS. named: Trevessa, Tregenna, Daybreak, Dudley rose, Barry, etc.

    Whatever her title she was not designed intentionally to face enemy action. She was generally a Steam ship: born or rather built to serve her masters, carry safely her crew, passengers and cargo and in conflict along with her fellow MN Merchant Ships supply a Nation.

    Those who sailed upon her: leaving families and loved ones ashore, at home, behind them and often during such conflict alone and forever. Many that promised to remember them are here no more, re-united possibly as time has gone by. The ships, travellers and crews, sail on in a different world, now and loved ones hopefully passage eternally with those brave men and voyagers once more.

    It was a hard way to earn a crust, especially during Wartime, with so many vessels seeking safe haven. With often her journeys end not reached and a final resting place, the Ocean bed and no known grave but the sea, for the men, women and boys or children that sailed these graceful steel ladies. “We must remember them all”. The many that survived attacks by those that would do them harm, haunted forever by the sights and sounds of ships and fellow men of the sea becoming extinct in such a horrible way and those that escaped the hunters time and time again, with no thought of giving in will always remember “These men that died to save us all”.

    We, as an island race, are steeped in Maritime history and owe so much to so many, the Merchant Navy have until recently seemed to be the forgotten service, the backbone of our country’s Navy, yet a distant relative when the honours are bestowed. These good men worked for a living, for bread and butter and maybe a love of the sea, others just to work, as times were hard. Whatever reason seamen sail, they expect at some time to go home. Faced with the hardships of life at sea, many would be deterred from such a life. To sail knowing that any voyage could be the last, facing war time dangers and a watery grave, did not deter these brave men and our Maritime life line was kept open by these sailors from many homes and ports.

    Sailing on what can be a “Cruel Sea”, not always in times of conflict, we ask that our God will “Bless this Ship and all who Sail In Her” at a launch and many pray for a safe voyage and early return for vessels leaving harbour. All ships and crew from liners to fishing vessels, rowing boat to super tanker, require safe passage, a flag to fly under and protection from danger. Safe harbour to rest in and when tragedy occurs a lifeboat to help them. We pray for the safety, support those that may rescue and ask our god to guide and protect. But we must also remember, LEST WE FORGET.

    In Memory of: All Captains and crews, those Good men and the women and children, still not “Home From the Sea” and those of all lost from this world with “No Known Grave but the Sea” the many just not remembered or just forgot and un-commemorated in an unattended grave and those that save and help to save lives at sea.

    .
    Last edited by Keith at Tregenna; 20th August 2020 at 02:19 AM.

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    Default Re: Merchant navy

    Quote Originally Posted by happy daze john in oz View Post

    Lest we forget.


    They Bore the Brunt

    They sailed the seas to bear the brunt,
    They steamed the courses laid,
    Ten thousand miles their battle front,
    Unbacked and undismayed.
    Fine seamen these of our great race,
    From your seaport or town,
    They risked their lives with danger faced Until their ship went down.
    Remember them - they held the line,
    Won freedom on the way,
    Remember them - their life was thine - On merchant navy day.

    J.Earl

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    Default Re: Merchant navy

    In 1983, I was given the honour by the Darwin NT RSL to give the Address at the Remembrance service at the Adelaide River War Graves Cemetery.
    Darwin, as many will know, was more heavily bombed by the Japanese than Honolulu, and many MN ships were sunk or damaged. Adelaide River War cemetery is the only war graves commission cemetery in Australia, and has as well as servicemen the Australian and American service men, also has graves for MN and a special area for the Post Officer workers whose building received a direct hit.
    "We will remember them'

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    Default Re: Merchant navy

    Thank you ⚓️ Well versed.

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