Invasion

[gray_marian]

#155, I stand to be corrected on this William, but when I joined this wonderful site I was looking for information regarding my Gt, Grandfather who was a fisherman all of his working life till 1914. Thereafter King George V bestowed on him and thousands of others the title of British Mercantile Marine of which I am extremely proud, still trying to find out what he actually did during the war years but I presume he and others had an respect and an affinity with the sea.

[Keith at Tregenna]

The name ‘Merchant Navy’ was bestowed by the British Government on all British and Commonwealth ships carrying cargoes, commodities, passenger’s merchandise and goods, by decree of the late King George V, in recognition and appreciation of loyal and heroic duties performed during World War One. The period of the war between 1914 and 1918, was when Britain faced total defeat by Germany as a result of the dreadful war at sea. In addition to the relentless and bloody land battles fought in France and Belgium, Britain’s merchant fleet was ruthlessly and efficiently attacked by enemy surface ships and ‘U Boats’. There was, initially, little or no adequate defence to the new submarine form of warfare, so as a result, massive losses of ships and enormous deaths of merchant seamen occurred. As an island nation Britain required its massive merchant fleet to supply much of its food and, in wartime, a large component of essential war equipment and material. At the end of World War 1 the British Government commemorated it’s merchant fleet by issuing a special Merchant Navy Medal to all of the seamen who had served on ships during the war. But it was some years later that the term ‘Merchant Navy’ was officially promulgated by King. George V. thus he, as monarch, then became “Master of the Merchant Navy and Fishing Fleets”

[William Gardner]

[QUOTE=gray_marian;161902]#155, I stand to be corrected on this William, but when I joined this wonderful site I was looking for information regarding my Gt, Grandfather who was a fisherman all of his working life till 1914. Thereafter King George V bestowed on him and thousands of others the title of British Mercantile Marine of which I am extremely proud, still trying to find out what he actually did during the war years but I presume he and others had an respect and an affinity with the sea.[/QUOTE
full respect marian have you notticed no likes coming up just thanks we have a prob on site

[Keith at Tregenna]

My male family lineage were fisher folk, either RNR or RNVR and MN, most are commemorated as MN. k.

[Ivan Cloherty]

#155, I stand to be corrected on this William, but when I joined this wonderful site I was looking for information regarding my Gt, Grandfather who was a fisherman all of his working life till 1914. Thereafter King George V bestowed on him and thousands of others the title of British Mercantile Marine of which I am extremely proud, still trying to find out what he actually did during the war years but I presume he and others had an respect and an affinity with the sea.

Having worked on deep sea trawlers, Liner services, trampers, and coasters they are all merchant men and skilled at their various professions with an affinity for the sea, at times with bitter rivalry or at times disdain, but having served on all four branches you can be assured they were all seamen and good at what they did Hundreds of trawlers were requisitioned with their crews for mine sweeping and mine laying duties, as well as convoy escorts and rescue ships, the latter very useful for their low freeboard for rescue operations. I sailed on s.t 'Swanland' built 1914, which served in WWI and WWII as a minesweeeper throughout both the wars, the men and the little ship served their country well both in peace and conflict, she was scrapped in 1954 after giving 40 years unbroken service, but boy could she bounce and pound.

[happy daze john in oz]

I am going off meat, I now eat more fish, I go to The Fish Shop on Dock St. Fleetwood and buy a load of cod, salmon, haddock and so on. we now have fish five days a week and chicken and Pork on the other two days. I find it is easier to digest since I had my big operation in Honolulu last year and feel better for it.
I bought £50 worth this morning and that will last us two weeks.
So I do Not have to eat Halal,
Cheers
Brian

And no doubt eat the Pork to keep the neighbours at bay??

[j.sabourn]

Ref. to 162... It would and could only be a landlubber who would try and distiguish between a vessels crew as to the size of a ship. All ships no matter what trade they are on all obey the same rules and regulations. As ivan says if Marians Grandfather served on fishing vessels he would more than likely have been requistioned for fleet duties, whether sweeping or laying, convoy rescue or even armed escort vessel. Those that usually boast about the size of a ship would probably also boast about their private parts. Size of a ship means nothing, there is no more skill there than any other vessel. A short induction course would only be required the same as any seaman is supposed to get on joining a strange ship, this was sadly lacking on most ships I was on, and suppose others experienced the same. Just one of the many rules brought out by the H and Safety but rarely enforced. Maybe the ref. to private parts is why I always preferred smaller ships to keep everything in proportion. Cheers John S.

[Louis the fly]

It is good that on this site we can express our thoughts and opinions on immigration and the effect it is having on our lives and country.
For far too long this has been a taboo subject with people and politicians afraid to speak out because they will be labeled as racist.
Unfortunately this debate has come far too late, it is impossible to undo what has been done and we are forced to live with the consequences.

[EIFION]

WE all have the right to express our views on here, but does that include distortion of historical facts to substantiate our point of view?. Does it include the right to turn a site for ex merchant seamen into a club for those who think they belong to a master race that has a hereditary divine right to exclusively populate the British Isles. These islands have always consisted of many races. Languages and cultures and not one.
in the second world war most that fought were conscripts not volunteers, they fought because they had little choice . That is true for both sides . Our war time leader's mother was an immigrant and one time mistress to a half German British monarch.
Are we going to exclude the Lascar, Indian, Chinese and other crews who sailed in the convoys together with the European ships that sailed along with those of Britain. Or where they not brave because they were not white English?
So people please lighten up , stop blaming others if your lives now are not what you want in your utopian fantasies , the Empire is long gone and we can not maintain a reasonable standard of living as a tiny offshore island without the mutual interdependence that the EU offers. It may not be our first choice but it the best on offer.

[Ivan Cloherty]

Are we going to exclude the Lascar, ..................................... .

If you bothered to read all the posts on this thread and on other threads, you will find that we have nothing but admiration for those seamen of other creeds and colours who mainly served in the most dangerous positions in a ship both in war and peace and they are remembered by us and past generations on various memorials around the country. So please do your homework before making derogatory comments about the members in general. Also we have the right to have our Utopian dreams if we so wish, we worked for them. As my old mother used to say 'It is better to remain quiet and be thought a fool, than open your mouth and remove all possible doubt'