here is a very interesting article about the MN in WW2

British merchant seamen of World War II - Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Britis...f_World_War_II

Merchant seamen crewed the merchant ships of the British Merchant Navy which kept the ... 36,749 seamen and women were lost by enemy action, 5,720 were taken prisoner and 4,707 were wounded, totaling 47,176 casualties, ...... MN crew of ss "Criton", plus token prize crew, held in Conakry, Timbuktu and Kankan.