Hello

[Adrian Bright]

Hello merchant navy people. I've joined this forum because of my dad, who died very recently. From what I remember him saying, he joined as an apprentice just after WW2 straight from school, and was at sea for about 10 or 12 years - I'm really not sure how long though. I think he worked for the White Star line, and although he rarely spoke in detail about what he got up to, I do know that from his and other family members stories he sailed all round the world, bought back birds and other creatures for his family, worked very hard with very little food while he was apprenticed. I know he didn't see his first child (my big brother) for 6 months after he was born, and missed his sisters wedding because he was at sea.He said he'd got his Masters Ticket before he left the sea, and was a Master Mariner (I know that very rarely he he would to go up to the Wellington) but I don't think he ever had command of his own ship, which I think he was probably sad about, though he never said as much. He did keep in touch with some of his old crew mates, but I'd guess they are likely all dead by now. One thing that sticks in my memory is that he was brilliant with knots for every sort of job, which came in very handy over the years.
One job he mentioned involved shipping water to Malta, he said the Maltese ladies were very pretty , and apparently he did this run for quite a while. He also mentioned a lot of heavy drinkers in the service. Though he liked the odd drink at home, he mainly left it for when we had visitors he was friends with. I know he said he had to leave the sea to earn more money to feed all those mouths at home (he managed to produce a lot of children).
I'll be looking for some hints and tips about finding out more about his service record, and if there might be anyone left alive who knew him/knew of him, I did go to one of the City of London libraries but it was a hard slog navigating the systems and finding people who could point me in the right direction, so I'll post something in the "Looking for Help" forum and have another go.

[Marian Gray]

Hello Adrian, Our Condolences to you and your family on your father passing away.

Thank you for the details provided, we need to know his full name, place and date of birth please to commence a search.

[Doc Vernon]

Hello Adrian
As said Condolences on the sad loss. Saty Strong though .
We will need his Full name DOB and Place of Birth please to assist us in helping you.
So unless you have already posted such please do
Many Thanks