Rank and job

[Hugh]

Is that not a RN cap badge. John Sabourn

John is quite correct. That cap is not Merchant Navy. Do we know when the photo was taken?

Regards
Hugh

[cappy]

jay don't think the royal navy had donkey men named as such he may have been a chief stoker perhaps hugh would know that regards cappy

[Jay Battle]

Thanks Hugh

All I know is that is was a coal miner in 1911 (according to the census information). It therefore may have been taken between 1911 and 1929.

Kind regards
Jay

[Jay Battle]

Sorry Hugh. You don't think his Cap Badge is Merchant Navy? John seemed to think it wasn't Royal Navy or is RN short for something else?

Thanks
Jay

[Hugh]

I think John was stating that it was a Royal Navy badge which it is but you have to look at the time period and the different services that were current at the time.

I think I can now clear up why he appears to be wearing a RN Petty Officer's cap.

Please see the attached. Matthew Battle was in the Mercantile Marine Reserve (MMR) during WWI. He was awarded the Victory Medal and the British War Medal. Not a great deal of information is available about this group of men and also the same is the case for any surviving records. The MMR certainly crewed Mercantile Fleet Auxillary ships (MFA). They were classified as two types commissioned and non-commissioned.

Some more details here: http://www.barnettmaritime.co.uk/reserves.htm

The MMR were closely related to both the MN and the RN. They were Merchant Navy seamen brought into the Reserve to help the Admiralty some signed T124 Agreements bringing them under the discipline of the Royal Navy while retaining their MN pay and conditions.

Regards
Hugh

[Jay Battle]

Hugh that is fantastic - thank you so much for finding that.

I have been looking through many online services and could not find anything about him. I am extremely grateful for this.


Kindest regards
Jay

[Hugh]

You're welcome Jay.

[robpage]

I would suggest that a Donkey man was a a PO a Fireman not

Looking at the cap badge and uniform , i am inclined to think that is an RN uniform

Question , on MN Badges the stock of the Anchor is normally angled in my memory whilst in the Royal NAvy it is square to the Anchor itself . Is that just something that I dreamed or has anyone else thought that .

[Hugh]

Definately a RN uniform and as stated earlier its because he was in the MMR.
Remember that the CR2 card is indicating that he was a Fireman in 1929 at this stage he was back in the Merchant Navy. The photograph with the PO cap shows him in the MMR during WW1.

Regards
Hugh

[Gulliver]

Ganadoc (1924/1144), I am guessing the /1144 is the net tonnage.
I believe she was a Bauxite carrier then in 1929 taken over by a Canadian company [ Welland ] on the great Lakes for the grain trade and in WW2 was requisitioned by the Canadian Government.
.
Then of course I could be wrong, I googled the name and got a few sites that mentioned it.

Usually the Donkeyman was classed as a Petty Officer the same as the Chippy and Bosun.
Cheers
Brian.

.....and expanding on what Brian says: s.s. Ganandoc Steel St. Lawrence River canal size bulk freighter

Built at Wallsend-on-Tyne England by Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson, Yard No. 1383
Launched March 11, 1929
259’ LOA, 253’ LBP, 43’2” beam, 20’ depth
1 deck, hatches @ 24’, coal-fired boilers, triple expansion engine, 750 IHP
Enrolled at
252.8 x 43.4 x 17.8, 1938 GT, 1151 NT Br 161511 to:
Paterson Steamships Ltd., Fort William ON. (home port Newcastle-on-Tyne England)
Entered service 1929
Enrollment transferred to Canada 1930 Can 161511 (home port to Fort William ON.)
Requisitioned 1940 for off-Lakes service during World War II and left the Great Lakes
Boilers converted to oil firing during her off-Lakes years
Returned 1952 to previous owners and returned to the Great Lakes
Deepened 1954 at Lauzon QC. by Davie Shipbuilding Ltd.
Remeasured to 21.9 depth and 2209 GT, 1546 NT
Sold 1961 to Sandland Ships Ltd. for off-Lakes service, renamed Sugarland, and left the Great Lakes
Her ocean career was short and painful. She loaded a cargo at Sorel QC for Savannah GA but was damaged enroute by a hurricane. After repairs she sailed to Tampa FL, where she loaded a cargo of phosphate rock for Coatzacoalcos Mexico on the Gulf of Mexico. Enroute she stranded Nov 21, 1961 on Arcas Reef in the Bay of Campeche, Gulf of Mexico and was abandoned.