Merchant navy
by 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
