From Hardships to Steamships: Memoirs of a Merchant Seaman During World War II


The oil was required to make glycerol for the manufacture of nitro-glycerine for explosives. Whale oil was also used for the production of edible fat. To all nations — whaling or non-whaling, belligerent or neutral — the commodity was a vital one. The article reports how previously the British authorities had notified Norway that they would respect the Norwegian whaling fleet, except in cases where it was believed the cargo was being supplied to Germany. Now however, the article continues, the Norwegian government had received a new message from the British government indicating that it was forced to impound all Norwegian ships with whale-oil cargoes to prevent export to Germany.

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Some Norwegian ships had already been impounded. The article goes on to remind the British governement of the rights of neutral states such as Norway, Denmark and Sweden to onward transport of cargoes and free navigation. Coll 1st tranche, News-cutting Album, H To increase whale oil production as the War continued, all regulations around the whaling-industry were relaxed including restrictions on the number of whale-catching vessels. Indeed, everything from fuel oils and coal, prefabricated buildings, machine tools, wires and cables, tanks, saws and saw blades, timber and wood products, and food provisions all had to be sourced beyond South Georgia and the Falkland Islands.

The UK was often unable to supply the resources.

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Although there was a demand for whale-oil throughout the War for glycerol and the subsequent manufacture of nitro-glycerine for explosives , it is clear that shortages of equipment and government restrictions were making it extremely difficult for the firm to meet the demand. Indeed, plans to increase the number of steam-powered whale-catching vessels operating in the Southern Ocean had to be abandoned. Ltd held Thursday 26 July in Leith, and during which hiring of additional steam-powered whale-catchers was discussed.

Ltd held Friday 21 June in Leith, and during which failure to hire additional steam-powered whale-catchers was discussed.

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. In the Far East it was not at all unusual for merchant seamen who survived ships which had been sunk by submarines of the Imperial Japanese Navy to be machine-gunned in the water, some Japanese submarines such as I made a practice of this. Mr Gabe Thomas, the former Registrar General of Shipping and Seaman Great Britain stated that "27 percent of merchant seamen died through enemy action". Gunnery courses were held regularly in the major ports such as Liverpool, Bristol and Newcastle, with Naval and Royal Marine instructors and certificates awarded to those seamen who completed them and so were able to return fire if attacked. Ltd held Friday 21 June in Leith, and during which failure to hire additional steam-powered whale-catchers was discussed. A substantial number of documented cases of u-boat men aiding survivors are however proven and are clearly reported in Admiralty files Adm series at the National Archives, London.

Ship's crews were highly compartmentalized and the different departments had little to do with each other and would not normally mix. They lived in different parts of the ship and ate apart. The only inter-departmental mixing was in the "Saloon" where the Master, the mates, the chief engineer and the radio officers would eat and socialize.

The engineer officers who numbered three or more ate in their own messroom and the carpenter and boatswain who held Warrant Officer status ate separately. The deck crew ate together and the engine-room crew ate by themselves. The average age of a seaman aboard a British registered vessel in was about 36 years and by it was about 32 years old. During the war many ships were armed with old artillery pieces and small arms, later light 20mm canons.

British merchant seamen of World War II - Wikipedia

These weapons were variously manned by trained merchant seamen of the crew, or pensioned gunlayers of the Royal Navy or Royal Marines who signed on as members of the crew and later by members of the Royal Artillery Maritime Regiment. Gunners varied in number with the armament and could be as few as one or two or as many as 30 men. The Master of a ship, locally referred to as the Captain, held a Master Mariners certificate, also known as an Ordinary Certificate in Steam and some even held an Extra Master's certificate which signified additional qualification in navigation.

He was employed by the shipping company who owned the ship and was responsible to the company for every aspect of the ship, the profitable trading of the ship, the cargo, the crew and the success or failure of the voyage. Masters with a proven track record often remained with a company for many years and could expect to become wealthy. As new ships were added to a company's fleet a successful and favoured Master could expect it to be assigned as "his".

It was quite normal for a Master to take his wife to sea with him if they decided that the voyage included ports which she wished to visit. The crew of any ship is arranged by a department system. Under the First Mate, the Deck Department handled the ship and its cargo, under the First Engineer the Engineroom Department provided the power and managed the engines and the Chief Steward managed the Catering, the provisions and ran the Ship's Cook and his assistants and the stewards. By wartime every ocean going ship had a "Radio Officer" and sometimes he had assistants, but in wartime the need to maintain a constant radio watch necessitated three radio officers instead of one.

The First Mate also called a Chief Officer on ocean liners had considerable experience at sea, usually held a Master Mariner's certificate and was gaining experience to allow him to seek employment as a Master. He was responsible to the Master for the cargo, ensuring everything was properly stowed and discharged at the correct port. He supervised the more junior mates in the navigation, handling and running of the ship.

The Third Mate reported to the more senior mates and would usually hold a Second Mate's certificate and be studying for his First Mate's ticket. Depending upon the size of the vessel it might have a Fourth Mate, Fifth Mate, and so on. The largest ocean liners could have Senior and Junior levels of each rate of Mate as far as 10th Mate. The Ship's Carpenter and Boatswain Bosun were the senior deck ratings and both were typically men of very considerable sea-going experience and personality.

The Boatswain's Mate was also an experienced seaman trusted by the Boatswain and Mates to be able to keep the deck crew in hand either by force of personality or by using his fists. The most junior were "Ordinary Seamen" who as yet lacked experience and the lowest were the "Deck Boys" who were typically fourteen or fifteen year old lads learning to be seamen. Ships often carried Apprentices who were indentured to the shipping company for a period of four years to learn the trade of seaman with a view to becoming Mates. Unlike Midshipmen in the Royal Navy the Apprentice worked with the Able Seamen, messing with them and sleeping in the seamens' accommodation.

The First Engineer or Chief Engineer Officer had to hold a First Class Certificate in Steam and would have had considerable sea-going experience, he was responsible for the main and subsidiary machinery. There were Third Engineers, Fourth Engineers, and so on, the number of them depending on the size of the vessel. All would usually have completed an apprenticeship ashore in heavy engineering, often in power stations or similar and after going to sea would have gained a Second Class Certificate in Steam.

Ocean liners might have Senior and Junior rates such as Junior Seventh Engineer or Senior Ninth Engineer, depending upon the number of officers carried aboard. The senior Engineroom ratings were the Donkeyman and the Greaser Petty Officers , in addition to heading the "Black gang", engine room ratings the former was responsible for the ship's auxiliary power and for maintenance of cargo handling derricks, the latter ensured correct lubrication of all necessary parts of the engines and keeping the Firemen and Trimmers in order.

The Black gang, [40] were the men who handled the coal and spent their working lives coated in coal dust as most ships were coal burning steamers. They were normally divided into two groups, the Firemen and the Trimmers. The firemen were the men who stood watches in the stokehold feeding tons of coal into the furnaces beneath the boilers to keep up a head of steam. The trimmers were the men who spent their lives in the ship's bunkers the hold which held the coal and were responsible for loading barrows of coal with which they ran across planks of wood to the stokehold to maintain the piles of coal beside the men feeding the furnaces.

British merchant seamen of World War II

They had to keep the level of coal within the bunkers trimmed level to prevent the ship becoming unstable. Some ships carried Engineroom Storekeepers, experienced older ratings who controlled the issues of stores. The larger the ship, the larger the Catering department. He would usually have two or three Assistant Stewards reporting to him. Also reporting to him was a Chief Cook senior Petty Officer status with his Assistants and a Galley Boy, one of his assistants was usually an efficient baker.

On a long voyage food became the centre of attention for the crew and a cook unable to produce food which was considered acceptable would very quickly become seriously unpopular. The pay of merchant seamen was poor when compared to the pay received by a factory worker or building site worker ashore.

In the seaman's basic working week was reduced to 56 hours. Merchant Marine earned more than double their wages. Food were usually coarse and poor as refrigeration was not usually available aboard ship for crew provisions.

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Any frozen food available was from an ice-box and after the ice melted salt meat from brine tubs and butter from tins provided much of the staple diet. Fresh eggs, fruit and vegetables might or might not be provided on arrival in port dependent on the budget held by the Chief Steward which was spent only with permission from the Master who was there to ensure the success and profit of each voyage. Each man might be provided one or two blankets at best and was expected to bring his own "donkey's breakfast" — a sack cloth bag containing straw which was to serve as a mattress.

Based on their own experience, abilities and hard work, any Able Seaman was eligible to progress from the most junior rating to firstly take the examination for a Second Mate certificate, then after sufficient sea-time a First Mate and finally Master Mariner and it was not unusual for a former Deck Boy to become a Master. In order to obtain a Second Mate's certificate known as a "ticket" a seaman would have had to have gained several years sea time experience either as an Apprentice a Cadet or as an Able Seaman no matter what his background or educational qualifications, either route involved living and working with seamen.

There was very little class consciousness at sea particularly aboard general cargo "tramp" steamers although the degree of regimentation necessary for maintenance of discipline amongst large crews and the adoption of naval like uniforms aboard ocean liners did sometimes attract officers and others who were more comfortable in that environment. Frequently certificated officers, both deck and engineering, built careers within specific shipping companies and only sailed aboard ships owned by that company. They were often able to progress on the basis of being requested by a Master who had just gained his own command.

Sometimes senior ratings such as Carpenters, Boatswains, Quarter Masters, Donkeymen and particularly Chief Stewards also preferred this career path and like their officers could even remain aboard a favoured ship for a decade or more. When a seaman paid off at the end of their engagement they would receive in addition to their pay, a detailed payslip showing hours worked at basic and overtime rates and monies paid in subs during the voyage or while in port, and a Discharge Slip which specified the name of the ship on which they had served, the rating in which they sailed i.

It also gave indication of their ability at work and their conduct during that period. If the seaman held a Discharge Book a Continuous Certificate of Discharge which was effectively an ongoing record of their career at sea, the same details would be entered into that book.

From Hardships to Steamships : Memoirs of a Merchant Seaman During World War II

A seaman taking his final discharge from the Merchant Navy at the end of the war was not released until approval could be gained unless it was a discharge due to him being unfit to sail any longer. A large number of seamen continued to sail as it was their usual occupation. A review of a typical crew sailing aboard a typical British coal burning general cargo steamer in May revealed: The engineer officers were from Jarrow, Hull, Liverpool and the Netherlands.

The engineroom crew were mainly South Shields resident Somali Arabs. The chief steward was from Cardiff, the cook and two galley boys were from Liverpool. The oldest member of the crew was the 55 year old cook and the youngest was the 15 year old galley boy. Records show that men from all British Commonwealth countries and most Scandinavian, Baltic and European countries served aboard British registered vessels and until the December attack on Pearl Harbor there were Japanese seamen amongst crews, several of whom were killed in U-boat attacks serving beside British seamen, [58] and others such as Kenji Takaki were captured and interned with British seamen at Marlag-Milag.

Merchant ships were quickly fitted with defensive armament and their crews trained to use the World War I surplus pounder, Hotchkiss or Lewis machine guns and even. Gunnery courses were held regularly in the major ports such as Liverpool, Bristol and Newcastle, with Naval and Royal Marine instructors and certificates awarded to those seamen who completed them and so were able to return fire if attacked. Amongst the dead were 19 of her crew including 5 female stewardesses, a 15 year old Bell Boy, [60] and a 65 year old Watchman.

The author John Slader survived three sinkings and was not unusual amongst seamen. Once torpedoed merchant ships behaved very differently, a tanker carrying high octane aviation fuel might explode into flame spreading a film of burning fuel across the sea all around the ship as it sank, [64] a ship loaded with timber might.

Sometimes there might be time to launch the ship's boats but other times seamen could be struggling to survive in the water trying to hang onto any floating debris.

It is difficult to total the number of merchant seamen who lost their lives during World War II because the government of the time did not grant them the automatic right of commemoration by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Unlike the Armed Services in which every wartime death by whatever means was recorded and commemorated, the seamen of the Merchant Navy could only be commemorated if their death could be proven to be attributable to enemy action. In March Sir William Elderton statistical advisor to the Ministry of War Transport reported 34, deaths aboard British registered vessels or ashore abroad.

He divided this total into 27, who died by enemy action and 6, who died by other causes including those aboard ships which disappeared or died the result of ships being sunk by friendly sea mines or being lost overboard in storms. He advised adjustments to his war deaths figure to 28, but did not account for an estimated 4, men missing aboard small vessels in the Far East.

Up to the end of the Ministry of Pensions knew of 1, merchant seamen who had died ashore "at home" from wounds, the effects of exposure while awaiting rescue in open boats, etc. In reply to a question in the House of Commons the then Prime Minister Clement Attlee cited 30, deaths by enemy action and it was acknowledged that 5, seamen were still listed as missing, this was to update a previously quoted total of 30, killed and 4, missing. At least South Africans and 72 possibly up to New Zealanders died, [70] probably being counted within the British Merchant Navy total in the same way that the Chinese dead are.

Potentially there are up to 6, more Merchant Seamen who died but are not commemorated. Following the sinking of a ship merchant seamen hoped to get out of the water into lifeboats or onto life rafts constructions similar to several wooden pallets joined together and to await rescue living of any supply of biscuits and fresh water which had been prepared. Large numbers of wounded or exhausted survivors did not manage this and died in the sea which could be covered in thick oil which was sometimes burning. Survivors of ships sunk in Arctic waters did not fare as well as those in the North Atlantic.

Lifeboats were often up-turned in heavy seas and had to be righted before survivors could get inside them. Some had a sail, others would merely drift with the ocean currents. Some survivors were rescued within hours, some were adrift for many weeks and some boats or rafts packed with survivors were never seen again.

Some convoys were accompanied by "Rescue Ships" which literally steamed with the convoy to stop and rescue surviving merchant seamen from the water. Britannia which sailed 1, miles to make land. During 23 days adrift 44 of the survivors died from wounds and exposure to the weather. Benlomond was rescued after days adrift, the record however was days, by two torpedoed Indian seamen, Mohamed Aftab and Thakur Miah of the ss. Assistance to survivors reduced dramatically after the bombing attack by a USN B maritime patrol aircraft on U under Werner Hartenstein which had broadcast on open radio frequencies for assistance and was flying Red Cross flags after rescuing survivors of the liner Laconia and towing a chain of lifeboats towards land aided by U and U See the Laconia Incident.