Grandfather research

[DeepSea]

As Doc has mentioned it is a Royal Navy service number and he was either a DEMS gunner or part of the wartime naval staff attached to the ship. That is why he is listed on the manifest as "Deck Hand" This was a wartime policy so that Merchant ships could not be detained in neutral ports for carrying member od the armed services. As Doc also suggested you can apply for his service record from the MOD, but previous experience with DEMS gunners is the ships they served on are not listed on their service file, just the accountancy base they were attached to, which was normally HMS President III.

[Ivan Doherty]

Cheers DeepSea
Fantastic bit of info. I am actually sending off for his records but wanted clarification of his service number and whether he was MN or RN.
I was confused why a RN personnel would be on a merchant Vessel.
Thanks very much, that is really interesting

[Keith at Tregenna]

The Merchant Gunners
Written & Researched by David J.B. Smith

Pos of interest:

https://davidjbsmith.weebly.com/the-...t-gunners.html

[Ivan Doherty]

Cheers Keith
Defo of interest thanks mate
Ivan

[Keith at Tregenna]

Please update us on how things turn out.

Regards, Keith.