Merchant Navy Records

[Stephen Green]

I have got my father’s WW2 land based army records. However, he was attached to the Merchant Navy as part of DEMS. I cannot find any records of his sea records, what ships he went on, or where they docked, etc. Can anyone help?

[Doc Vernon]

Hello Stephen
Can we please have his Full name Place and DOB.

This info will help us to locate any records he may still have at the Archives
Cheers

DEMS gunners are quite difficult to research for the reasons you have encountered namely only the RN bases that handled their accounts and training are listed and no mention of service in MN ships. There are two things you can do. The first and easiest is to request a copy of his Pay and Victualing record which will hopefully list the merchant ships he served on. Failing that then you can use Merchant Navy crew agreements but the snag there is that you need to know the name of a ship, preferably at the end of his service. The crew agreement will usually list the name of his previous ship. With a bit of luck you can back track his service using this procedure. (Note: Thanks to Hugh McLean for this info a while back now )

You can also Email these People who can possibly help and give you some info. Just ask and give as much info as possible.
Cheers
navysearchpgrc@tnt.co.uk

Or a Letter to

Director Naval Personnel,
TNT Records Management,
PO Box 7814,
William Nadin Way,
SWADLINCOTE,
Derbyshire,
DE11 1EG