merchant navy records 1939 to 1945

09:00 to 17:00. SA. One statement indicates he fell forward unhindered over the gun deck another says he staggered, gripped a rail and fell backwards to his death. Archives, Open Government Licence LOG BOOKS AND CREW AGREEMENTS Information about official records for the Merchant Navy (UK) can be found at the National Maritime Museum (UK) Details about the role of the Australian Merchant Navy and the role Australian merchant ships played in World War II can be found at Merchant Ships of Australia in World War 2. My mum told me that he did serve. The database includes every British registered ship from 1855 to the early 1950s with official numbers 1 to 200000. This information will help us make improvements to the website. The Guildhall Library does not hold crew lists. This collection includes Merchant Navy Seamen records held at The National Archives. This number made up around one third of the entire global merchant fleet at the time, with many of the seamen coming from all over the Empire, including India, Hong Kong and West Africa. MERCHANT NAVY SEAMAN'S SEA SERVICE RECORDS Sea Service Records . Want to find out more about your relative's service? Research guidance for records relating to World War 2. A register entry for a foreign trade voyage, from BT 124. The convoy arrived in Freetown on 1st March. In May 1943 S.S. Samaria was in West Huskisson dock at my grandfather's home port of Liverpool. If you are enjoying the site, please consider making a donation, however small Up to 1854 records are arranged by port and registry number; subsequently by ship's official number. The family believed that the torpedoed ship was the Tacoma Star of the Blue Star Line but I believe that ship was lost with all hands and Ronnie's name does not appear on the casualty list. In early 1945, in the face of advancing British forces, the camp was evacuated, and we were marched to Marlag und Milag Nord, from where I was later repatriated. Some are at TNA, while a few are held by theNational Maritime Museum. The cards give the name of a ship and details of its movements, namely, the ports at which it docked, and passage between ports. In 1939 the Admiralty instructed the Board of Trade, for reasons of. It was the job of the Ministry to decide what cargo the ships would carry and the function they would fulfil in order to best support the war effort, while crewing and provisioning remained under the jurisdiction of the shipping industry. Royal Australian Navy History, WWII Merchant ship movement records - Australia; Ron Wylie, Australian merchant navy: stories of the war at sea Background information. It sank many submarines, but it also lost a large number of warships. These records come from The National Archives' record series BT112, BT113, BT114, BT115, BT116, BT119 and BT120. Our Military ; Card Catalog ; Member Search ; DNA. Not all changes in ships names are logged on the cards and in such cases it will be necessary to obtain the ships official number (not usually recorded on the cards) and check against that number for all possible name changes. For ability and general conduct both men are reported as very good. The slower ships left the convoy at Capetown and the convoy increased speed to 14 knots rounding the Cape into a full gale which eventually turned so that they had a following sea. You may be searching for a ship on dates before or after movement cards were in use on that vessel. Merchant Navy service Records of pre-World War I and colonial service World War I service with the Australian Naval & Military Expeditionary Force an War gratuity cards for World War I and World War II Records of Navy service after 1970 Other contacts We hold the following records about service in the Royal Australian Navy: The T124X records detail the sea service of merchant seamen who served on Royal Navy ships (or Royal Navy auxiliary vessels). If you are ordering more than one record for seamen with similar names, you should check if their records are on the same page. Subscribe now for regular news, updates and priority booking for events.Sign up, All content is available under the Open Government Licence Use our guide Abbreviations in merchant seamens records to interpret the records. By now the United States had entered the war and Japanese forces were invading Malaya. Most of the prisoners, including myself, were sent from Drancy to concentration camps. v3.0, except where otherwise stated, Merchant Navy ships records: movement cards 1939-1945, Friends of The National As the outbreak of World War II edged closer in 1939, the British merchant fleet remained the largest in the world, employing some 200,000 men and women. In general Second World War Royal Naval Reserve officers records and post 1950 records are held by CN Pers (Commodore Naval Personnel). Germany turned submarines, battleships, aircraft and mines on Britains supply lines, while British and American shipyards worked tirelessly to replace those ships that were sunk. ConsultBT 122-126and BT 128 (index in BT 127). On the 18th the weather worsened to force 6 with a rough sea and short, heavy swell with poor visibility. An incomplete set of captains registers is available on microfilm in The National Archives reading rooms. AncestryDNA Activate a Kit ; AncestryDNA Learning Hub ; What's Included in Your Results . A merchant seaman qualified serving within a restricted area in the Bay of Bengal. Merchant seamen who were discharged from the navy between 1940 and 1972 had their records filed in what became known as 'seamen's pouches'. Military ; Card Catalog ; Member Search ; DNA. Ordinary Seaman Charles Lomax served with the Merchant Navy in WW2. The poster shows an ultra-realistic drawing with a coxswain at a ship's wheel, and an officer with binoculars drawn by Charles Wood. However, it was still important to record the movements of merchant vessels and so the Registrar General of Shipping and Seamen established this series of cards, now held by The National Archives in series BT 389. ", JEng. Another brother Thomas was in the British Army. The National Archives holds indexes to the registers covering the period 1913-1956 (the registers themselves, for 1915-1958, are held at the National Maritime Museum). I know that during 1939 to 1945 he served on a few Navy ships as an engineering officer RNVR and some time ago I sent a letter to obtain a record of the Naval ships he sailed in. Consult series BT 140 for details. We place some essential cookies on your device to make this website work. Records we hold This website Search Domestic and Foreign Policy (1945-1958) 17. Matthew Towers was 48 years old when he lost his life. You may also like to read ourguide on Merchant seamens medals and honours. Awarded for service between 6 June 1944 and 8 May 1945, in direct support of land operations in France, Belgium, Holland or Germany, in the North sea, the English Channel or the Bay of Biscay (service off the coast of the south of France could qualify for the Italy Star, see below). ConsultBT 139for certificates of competency from 1861-1921, BT 142forcertificates of service from 1862-1921 andBT 140for certificates of service of engineers examined in the colonies from 1870-1921 (index in BT 141). Operational and non-operational service may be counted, providing that it was of 28 days or more duration. We place some essential cookies on your device to make this website work. Many thousands of POWs died there. Monarch of Bermuda sailed for Suez with an estimated 2,200 troops on board on 28th June in company with seven other ships and escorted by the destroyers HMS Reading and Piorun (Polish). The details are in an appendix entitled An Alphabetical List of all the Masters and Mates in the Merchant Service. Awarded for service in the Pacific Ocean, South China Sea or the Indian Ocean between 8 December 1941 and 2 September 1945. For information on how to order an Official Military Personnel File for a veteran who separated from service before 1957, . On 13th December the weather reached gale force which repeated the heavy rolling and misery in the troopdecks experienced on the first leg of the voyage. They sailed up the Irish Sea to join with the Clyde portion to form convoy WS 9B. Helping people find out more about their relatives wartime experiences since 1999 by Hello, I have just started to look for my deceased fathers merchant navy records. At 5.10 p.m. he was assigned A.R.P. This guide will help you find and interpret records of Merchant Navy officers from 1845 to 1965. First World War Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve records can also be accessed online. We are now on Facebook. Operations in and around the Dodecanese, Corsica, Greece, Sardinia and Yugoslavia after 11 June 1943 would also qualify. The convoy arrived in Durban on 18th December. Conditions on the raider were passable, but the prison ship was deplorable. In the longest campaign of the war, the British merchant fleet, with its naval escorts, struggled to bring food, fuel, equipment and raw materials from America and elsewhere across the Atlantic,. Second World War (1939-1945) Archival records and resources from the Second World War Archival resources from Canada's participation in the Second World War. There were no portholes, and ventilation came from the open access hatches which had to be closed at night when the ships were darkened. Research guide C12: The Merchant Navy: Ship registration and Custom House records; Research guide E1: . Those giving evidence included J. Cornwall M.N. Photographs CAPTAIN CHARLES FRYATT Genealogical enquiriesshould be made in writing and search fees are 30. We can either copy our records onto paper or deliver them to you digitally, Visit us in Kew to see original documents or view online records for free, Consider paying for Results 1-9 of 9 View Record Name Birth Date; View Record. The Lloyd Captains Registers were compiled from the records of certificates issued to foreign-going masters. He said he always craved the soil under his boots. SS Otranto, Capt. On the outbreak of the 1939-1945 war between the United Kingdom and Germany (3 September 1939), British-registered merchant ship masters were sent radio messages instructing them to open the sealed envelope which had been deposited in ships' safes as much as a year previously. I remember him telling me about runs to Malta and how soldiers shouldn't have been on ships. When they reached Aden on 15th August the convoy was disbanded. For skippers and mates of fishing boats, registers of certificates of competency are in BT 129and registers of certificates of service are in BT 130 (index in BT 138). For each officer registers provide: Look for a certificate entry in theregisters of certificates (they are arranged by certificate number) listed below. The convoy would have various naval escorts during the trip which would join and leave as the convoy passed their bases. Here's some details: Full Name: Harold Dowle Born: 7th June 1911 I have a card with a discharge A number in the name of H Dowle of 714335 for 12/7/1938 on a ship called Lornaston (148881) from Liverpool. ","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"The struggle for control over the Atlantic shipping routes, which would eventually become known as the Battle of the Atlantic, was one of the longest campaigns of WWII. For example, MacDonald will not appear under the letter M but under D. Records of Merchant Navy from other sources. If you have already submitted a story to the site and your UID reference number is higher than 261046 your information is still in the queue, please do not resubmit, we are working through them as quickly as possible. ","spans":[]}]}},{"__typename":"PrismicArticlePage1939BodySliceImage","type":"slice-image","primary":{"__typename":"PrismicArticlePage1939BodySliceImagePrimary","image":{"dimensions":{"width":1200,"height":742},"alt":"Black and white photo of a group of officers on the SS City of Manila, a cargo steamer of the Ellerman City Line","copyright":"Mary Evans/Pharcide","url":"https://images.prismic.io/findmypast-titan/16661bfe-a635-4d82-a616-66a6b14d10d7_group-photo-officers-of-ss-city-of-manila-a-cargo-steamer-of-the-ellerman-city-line-sunk-in-the-atlantic-by-a-german-torpedo-in-1942-with-just-one-crew-member-lost-mary-evans-pharcide.jpg?auto=compress,format"},"caption":"Group photo, officers of SS City of Manila, a cargo steamer of the Ellerman City Line, sunk in the Atlantic by a German torpedo in 1942, with just one crew member lost. Alternatively, search The National Archives Library to see what is available to consult at Kew. On the Samaria crew list and report of character, James Wafer and Matty Towers are consecutive number 59 & 60. Read tagging guidelines. The Oil Concessions 15. I myself [Captain Elliot] slid into the water shortly before the ship took up a vertical position stern up and then disappeared completely at 05.59. This was 22 minutes after first being torpedoed. Registration of cooks in the Merchant Navy began on 30 June 1908. This is the story of my Grandad, James Wafer and his best friend and shipmate Matty Towers. All Web: UK, World War II Medals Issued to Merchant Seamen, 1939-1945 results for Ruth Mcmillen. Contact the appropriate state or national archive. ","copyright":"INF13-213 (52)","url":"https://images.prismic.io/findmypast-titan/9794e89f-46cb-4342-8b53-47272a1b0f4b_inf13-213-52-world-war-ii-poster-the-life-line-is-firm-thanks-to-the-merchant-navy.jpg?auto=compress,format"},"caption":"The Life-line Is Firm Thanks To The Merchant Navy Image: INF13-213 (52)"}},{"__typename":"PrismicArticlePage1939BodySliceText","type":"slice-text","primary":{"__typename":"PrismicArticlePage1939BodySliceTextPrimary","content":[{"type":"paragraph","text":"Despite sharing the word Navy in their titles, the difference between the Royal and Merchant Navies was that sailors in the latter were classed as civilians. Inicio; FAQ's; Biblioteca; Ayuda; Bsqueda avanzada; Comentarios/sugerencias . Art . Add a Name to this List There have been times when I've thought about the few months of kindness and friendliness shown by Frau Wilmbrock and her family in the village of Kirch, where I and fellow Stalag X-B prisoner Jock Reid worked their farm. Records of people younger than 100 and still alive, or who died after 1991 are officially closed. We place some essential cookies on your device to make this website work. You can search for ships official numbers through the Crew List Index Project. v3.0, except where otherwise stated, Merchant Navy campaign medal records 1939-1945. are on the same page. Then, as European-built iron-hulled sailing ships replaced wooden square-riggers, Canadian shipbuilders found it harder to compete. Enter the tag you would like to associate with this record and click 'Add tag'. Thomas Coakley examined the body and states no violence was used in his death but his body was badly damaged, due to it being trapped for days under the lock gates of the dock. The ship Adrastus had to heave-to to secure cargo which had come adrift and didnt catch up with the convoy until three days later. These records are digitised cards recording the movements of British and Allied merchant ships during the Second World War. By 1878, Canada was the fourth largest ship-owning nation in the world, with a merchant fleet of 7,200 vessels. For quick pointersTuesday to Saturday Generally the qualifying service period for the Burma Star could only begin after the 1939-1945 Star had been earned by six months service. Strange that we have sworn coroners statements from my grandfather's inquest placing him on the ship and performing his duties, but the official entry in the log claims he failed to re-join the ship. Maurice "Ginger" Archer SS Wendover. Most of these men were not born in Asia; many were Egyptian. - Merchant Navy during the Second World War -. the-raf-in-camera-1939-1945 1/11 Downloaded from uniport.edu.ng on March 2, 2023 by guest . Whilst it is only short, it gives a vivid account of life on board ship as a RA gunner during WW2. At 7.45 p.m. the Samaria was about to sail. The card entries do not all start or end at the same time. "Along with this new series have come some new experiences. Women also sometimes served at sea in the Merchant Navy. They contain the following information: Search BT 352, a combined index to masters, mates, engineers and fishing officers certificates of competency covering home and foreign trade. Birth, Marriage & Death, including Parish ; Military ; Wills & Probate ; Immigration & Travel ; Schools, Directories & Church Histories ; Public Member Trees ; . 1. Conversely, it was fortunate that fair weather allowed the rescue of 80 per cent of the total on board. Merchant Navy - The port where the merchant mariner signed on as a member of a ship's crew at the commencement or during the war. The cards record the movements of both British-registered and Allied vessels engaged in the war effort. Records of masters and mates passing the voluntary examination are in series BT 143 (which includes a name index) and in BT 6/218-219. Look at the websites of other archives and organisations which hold agreements and crew lists, including the Maritime History Archive in Newfoundland, the National Maritime Museum, the National Records of Scotland, the National Archives of Ireland, and local archives. The popularity of the site means that it is far exceeding available resources. I think the tag '' should be removed from: Subscribe now for regular news, updates and priority booking for events, All content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0, except where otherwise stated, BT - Records of the Board of Trade and of successor and related bodies, Division within BT - Records of the Registrar General of Shipping and Seamen and successor, Merchant shipping movement cards 1939-1945, Merchant Navy ships' records: movement cards 1939-1945, Merchant Navy ships' records: registration of merchant ships, About our Ships & Convoys. Digital copies of Merchant shipping movement cards 1939-1945 can be searched and downloaded. please I was held in Stalag X-B for two years, and I will never forget that smell it lingered constantly. (BSLOC_2013_11_114) Everett Collection Mary Evans","spans":[{"start":0,"end":131,"type":"em"}]}]}}],"metaTitle":null,"metaOgTitle":null,"metaDescription":null,"metaOgDescription":null,"metaCanonical":null,"addNoIndexTag":null,"_meta":{"__ref":"PrismicMeta:XgIZ8RAAACEA9U7G"}}},"TrustpilotTrustScore:4bdc84ff000064000505d022":{"__typename":"TrustpilotTrustScore","id":"4bdc84ff000064000505d022","trustScore":3.8},"PrismicRelatedDocument:XgIaTRAAACEA9VB8":{"__typename":"PrismicRelatedDocument","id":"XgIaTRAAACEA9VB8","lang":"en-us","type":"article-page-1939","uid":"the-merchant-navy"},"PrismicRelatedDocument:XgIaGBAAACEA9U96":{"__typename":"PrismicRelatedDocument","id":"XgIaGBAAACEA9U96","lang":"en-au","type":"article-page-1939","uid":"the-merchant-navy"},"PrismicRelatedDocument:XgIaORAAACIA9VAa":{"__typename":"PrismicRelatedDocument","id":"XgIaORAAACIA9VAa","lang":"en-ie","type":"article-page-1939","uid":"the-merchant-navy"},"PrismicMeta:XgIZ8RAAACEA9U7G":{"__typename":"PrismicMeta","id":"XgIZ8RAAACEA9U7G","firstPublicationDate":"2019-12-24T14:00:46+0000","lastPublicationDate":"2019-12-24T14:00:46+0000","alternateLanguages":[{"__ref":"PrismicRelatedDocument:XgIaTRAAACEA9VB8"},{"__ref":"PrismicRelatedDocument:XgIaGBAAACEA9U96"},{"__ref":"PrismicRelatedDocument:XgIaORAAACIA9VAa"}]}},"pathname":"/1939register/the-merchant-navy","publicPath":"/titan/dist/","browser":{"name":"Safari","fullVersion":"15.5","majorVersion":"15","osName":"Mac OS","isBot":false}}, Discover the sailors in your family history with the 1939 Register. Seamen's records ('pouches') are in: BT 372, Crew agreements and log books are in: BT 380, Coast trade crew agreements and log books are in: BT 381, Fifth Register of Seaman's Service is in: BT 382, Crew agreements and log books for requisitioned or chartered Allied foreign ships are in: BT 387, Special Operations Records, merchant seamen, are in: BT 391, Registrar General of Shipping and Seamen, 1872-1992, Have you found an error with this catalogue description? This collection records the movements of ships ordinarily engaged in foreign going trade. These records are digitised cards recording the movements of British and Allied merchant ships during the Second World War. You can find out whether a medal was issued by looking at the markings on the records. These entries do not simply record a single voyage, but a half year (January to June or July to December) during which the seaman was engaged on a particular ship. Awarded for service between 10 June 1940 and 12 May 1943, serving in the Mediterranean. Discovery is a catalogue of archival records across the UK and beyond, from which you can search 32 million records. In themerchant navy the term officer can refer to a master, mate, engineer, fishing boat skipper, second hand or cook. Merchant mariners or merchant seamen are assigned to vessels that primarily transport cargo and passengers during peacetime. I hope to also take a digital diary when it is finished to the Arctic Convoy Museum at Loch Ewe. At this point the body of Matthew Towers A.B. Enter the tag you would like to associate with this record and click 'Add tag'. photographs, documents or items from the First or Second World War, please do not destroy them. The funeral for 46 year old Jim Wafer was held on Tuesday 1st of June 1943 at St Dominic's Roman Catholic Church then burial at Ford Cemetery. During wartime, however, they can become an auxiliary to the United States Navycalled upon to deliver military personnel and materiel for the military. The certificate number obtained from the index indicates: Certificate numbers with a letter(s) prefix NWS were issued in the colonies. They also record the location (by latitude and longitude) and date a ship was sunk. This was a process which had started with the award of Merchant Navy War Service medals, and the inclusion of the merchant navy in Anzac Day marches in the mid-1970s. We weren't sorry to leave there in a cattle truck three days later, when we were taken to Drancy Prison in Paris. Using testimony from new witnesses and hitherto undisclosed public records, he seeks to explain why they were reported missing: believed killed. The following books may also prove useful: In general, seamens records for the period 1913-1972 can be found at TNA (unfortunately, most records for the First World War period do not appear to havesurvived). Due to the multifaceted nature of the Merchant Marine, we are very grateful to obtain this collection in order to provide clarity to their service," said Theresa Fitzgerald, Along with this new series have come some new experiences. The troop decks in this compartment contained many RAF and RAOC and the number of casualties was probably increased by the wooden laddersbeing smashed by the explosion. Anselm was indeed unfortunate to have been sighted and torpedoed whilst within the supposed protection of an anti-submarine screen by an isolated homeward bound U-Boat. From 1835, details of seafarers were recorded in registers by the Register Office for Merchant Seamen, later the Registrar General of Shipping and Seamen, using information from the crew lists. Read My Ancestor was a Merchant Seaman by Christopher and Michael Watts (Society of Genealogists, 2002) this title is also available in our shop. Let us know. These were to be my grandfather's final words on earth. The two Ellerman ships City of Lincoln and City of Edinburgh had to return to Liverpool and the Clyde because cargo had shifted. For quick pointersTuesday to Saturday Below is the last movement card for the SS Athenia. Samaria sailed out of Liverpool on Friday 14th of May 1943 and was on the Clyde Monday 17th of May. From 1845 onwards a system of examinations was introduced for masters and mates. Records of Royal Naval Reserve ratings in service between 1914 -1955 are available online atwww.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/royal-naval-reserve-service-records.htm. For Matty Towers the three witness statements into his death are very contradictory. to help with the costs of keeping the site running. Personnel records available to the public are now held byThe National Archives (TNA), formerly known as the Public Record Office, the website has helpful research guides. To view all records for an individual, select 'ALL' in the Service box. The registers follow a similar format to Registers of Seamen Tickets in BT 113. Welcome to the The British Merchant Navy - Old Friends Plus. The T124T records detail the sea service of merchant seamen who served on tugs. Discovery is a catalogue of archival records across the UK and beyond, from which you can search 32 million records. Order records to view when you visit. Back to Search Results Veterans History Project Service Summary: War or Conflict: World War, 1939-1945 Branch of Service: Merchant Marine Unit of Service: SS George W. Lively; SS George Sters; SS James Hyram Walker; SS War Bonnet Location of Service: Atlantic; Pacific; Normandy, France; Okinawa Island (Ryukyu Islands); Guam (Mariana Islands) Highest Rank: Active Boatswain IWM collections. Edit Search New Search. Generally the qualifying service period for the Italy Star could only begin after the 1939-1945 Star had been earned by six months service. The third statement, quite surprising, from W. Orr, is missing from the official records although he is listed as giving evidence to the inquiry into Matty Towers death. We'd like to use additional cookies to remember your settings and understand how you use our services. Little did I know, but back home I was considered missing and presumed dead. Please ensure the tag is appropriate for the record. These cards have been selected as they reflect the economic, social and demographic condition of the UK, as documented by the state's dealings with individuals, communities and organisations outside its own formal boundaries (2.2.2.1 of PRO's acquisition policy). A Clasp would be worn to signify service for the other Star. USA.gov, The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration The book's structure follows the chronological evolution of geographical opinions and retains a geohistorical narrative. Edit Search New Search. Please ensure the tag is appropriate for the record. Merchant seafarers were involved in the Second World War from the first day to the last. Before 1747 no formal record keeping of crews on merchant ships existed. During the war this fleet underwent tremendous expansion as Canadian shipyards produced 403 merchant vessels. Historically many vessels have had their names changed, sometimes on more than one occasion. The series generally contains information about radio equipment . On 11th February Monarch of Bermuda embarked 2,500 troops and had to anchor with other troopships in the River Mersey held up by fog until the 16th. I believe, SS Port Sydney also survived the war so, I am uncertain on which ship Ronnie was serving when torpedoed. Search for the National Maritime Museums records of master and mate certificates (1850-1927) on Ancestry.co.uk (). Enter the tag you would like to associate with this record and click 'Add tag'. We'd like to use additional cookies to remember your settings and understand how you use our services. ). Shortly after, Samaria set sail for Algiers via the River Clyde, Glasgow. In 1939 the Admiralty instructed the Board of Trade, for reasons of security, to prevent masters of merchant vessels from using ships logs or crew lists and agreements to record destinations or ports of call. After a change of orders she eventually left the Clyde with escorts on 30th June. Alternatively, search more than 1 million objects from IWM collections Menu. Tragically, 30,248 merchant seamen lost their lives during World War Two, a death rate proportionally higher than in any of the armed forces. research. Other ways to find service records. 3rd Radio Off. Woodman here relates the Merchant Navy's colourful history and brings to life the day-to-day experiences of the seamen. You can find more details here. Within the Returns of Births and Deaths of Passengers 1939-1963 there are for 1939-1945 also records of deaths of soldiers on hospital and troopships, but it is necessary to know the name of the ship. Have you found an error with this catalogue description? By the 26th of June 1943 the crew of the Samaria had heard of the body of Jim Wafer being found in Liverpool. Help us improve catalogue descriptions by adding tags. Search indexes to crew lists from 1861 to 1913 by name on findmypast (). Catalogue description Registry of Shipping and Seamen: War of 1939-1945; Combined Office Merchant Navy Operations, Seamen's Pouches Search within or browse this series to find specific.

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