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Battle of Atlantic 1939/1945 Merchant seamen crewed the merchant ships of the British Merchant Navy which kept the United Kingdom supplied with raw materials,arms,ammunition,fuel,food and all of the necessities of a nation at War throughout World War 2 literally enabling the country to defend itself. In doing this they sustained a considerably greater casualty rate than almost every branch of the armed services and suffered great hardship. Seamen were aged from fourteen to their late seventies . The office of the Registrar General of Shipping and Seamen calculated that 144,000 merchant seamen were serving aboard British registered merchant ships at the outbreak of World War 2 and that up-to 185,000 men and Women served in the Merchant Navy during the war time. 36,749 Seamen and Women were lost by enemy action, 5,720 were taken prisoner and 4,707 were wounded , totalling 47,176 casualties, a minimum casualty rate of over 25 percent . Mr Gäbe Thomas , former Registrar General of Shipping and Seamen (Great Britain) stated that 27 percent of Merchant Seamen died through enemy action. Merchant Seamen aboard British registered vessels during World War 2 were both male and female and might be registered with British,Indian,Canadian,Australian, or New Zealand Merchant Navies, or the fishing fleets . The youngest merchant seaman were invariably “ Boy” ratings, Deck boys,Galley boys, Mess room boys,Stewart’s boys, Cabin boys and were typically 14/15 years of age . Two brothers Ken and Ray Lewis from Cardiff were killed sailing together aboard the SS Fiscus aged 14 and 15 years respectively when it was sunk by U-99. Frequent cases of family members sailing together occurred but this had tragic results when ships were lost, for example three members of the Atari family from Gozo Malta were lost on the 15th September 1941 when the SS Newbury was lost, three Roberts brothers were lost on 23 June 1941 when the SS Arakaka was lost. Although sailing aboard different ships was not a fail safe solution, three sons of the Metcalf family from Sunderland were lost , three sons of the Nicol family from Edinburgh, and three of the Stiff family from Barry Glamorgan
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The oldest know serving merchant seaman were in their 70’s , the Chief Cook Santan Martins of SS.Calabra was aged 79 when he was killed in action in ships sinking by U-103 in December 1940. The Ministry of War Transport (MoWT) was a Department of the British Government formed on 1 May 1941 when Lord Leathers was appointed Minister of WarTransport to control transportation policy and resources . It was formed by merging the Ministry of Shipping and the Ministry of Transport, bringing responsibility for both Shipping and Transport to a single department, and easing the problems of co-ordination of Transport in wartime. From this point onwards then “ MoWT “ decided upon the route sailed and cargo carried by every ship. In May 1941, “ Emergency Work ( Merchant Navy) Order, Notice No.M198 was passed by the British Parliament in recognition of the desperate situation facing Great Britain. Under this new order a Merchant Navy Reserve Pool was established which was to ensure that available seamen were allocated to ships which needed crew, it also required that Seamen to continue to serve for the duration of the war. The British Merchant Navy was the biggest in the world and required more crew than Great Britain had Merchant Seamen, as a result large numbers of Indian,Chinese , and West African Seamen were engaged to crew ships which regularly traded from Great Britain ports into those areas , additionally Seamen from all the Commonwealth countries sailed on British ships as did many Seamen from Scandinavia, the Netherlands and most countries of the world. Women at Sea Traditionally women sailed as “ merchant seamen “ aboard ocean liners and larger passenger carrying vessels usually as Chief Stewardesses, Stewardesses or Assistant Stewardesses but also working in the laundries and in Nursing (as Nursing Sisters) , in child care roles and as assistance in the on board shops , then with the reduction in passenger traffic this reduced the number of female staff, however a small number remained, approaching 50 lost their lives when their ships were attacked.
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One example was Lily Ann Green , a Stewardess awarded a Kings Commendation for Brave Conduct for her bravery when SS Andalusia Star was torpedoed and sunk off West Africa in 1942. A small number of women sailed as radio officers including the Radio Officer of the SS.Viggo Hänsteen , Maud Elizabeth Stean of the Canadian Merchant Navy who died on 14 th August 1944 aged 28, one or two women sailed as engineer offices Victoria Drummond (2 Engineer) of the SS. Bonita who was awarded an MBE and a Lloyd’s War Medal for Bravery for services was attacked and bombed by Luftwaffe. Britain desperately needed fast ships for convoys and escorts and leaked the number of warships to undertake this role. Several ocean liners were taken from the trade by the Royal Navy to act as Armed Merchant Cruisers (AMCs) after having basic armament fitted.As these ships already had experienced crews the Merchant Seamen were asked to sign a T.124 agreement to serve alongside the Royal Navy in Naval Uniform as members of Naval Auxiliary Personal subject to Navy discipline . Approaching 10,000 seamen , mostly reluctantly signed for a period service of 12 months . One of the AMCs mainly crewed by large number of merchant seamen was HMS Jarvis Bay which fought a tragically unequal heroic battle with the German cruiser Admiral Scheer in defence of convoy HX-84, she was lost but had bought enough time for convoy to escape getting battered . The majority of Seamen manning ships of the British Merchant Navy were British however in a 1938 survey it was found that 27 percent were either from India or China and another 5 percent were British domiciled Arabs , Indians,Chinese, West Africans, or West Indians mainly resident in major U.K. ports such as Cardiff, Liverpool, South Shields . Merchant Seamen were dying within 9 hrs of the war being declared, on the 3 September 1939 when U-30 torpedoed the passenger ship SS.Athenia and then surfaced to attack the sinking ship with gunfire and destroying the ships radio room , she sank with the loss of 118 lives including women and children some being US citizens , amongst the dead were 19 of her crew including five female stewardess, a 15 year old bell boy, and a 65 year old watchman. The Llandaff Castle a troop carrier in January 1941 put into Liverpool and a cook Daniel Jenkin Davies was put ashore in to Walton Hospital were he died after two days , the ship was torpedoed and sunk 1942 .
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In March 1946 Sir William Elderton ( statistical advisor to the Ministry of War Transport reported 34,018 deaths aboard British registered vessels or ashore abroad . He divided this total into 27,000 who died by enemy action and 6,228 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 28,230 but did not account for an estimated 4,537 men missing aboard small vessels in Far East .Up to the end of 1945 the Ministry of Pensions knew of 1,078 merchant seamen who had died ashore “ also 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 30,189 deaths by enemy action and it was acknowledged that 5,264 seamen were still listed as missing , this was to update a previously quoted total of 30,248 killed and 4,654 missing . Writing in 1968 Vice-Admiral Schofield quoted an estimate of 32,952 deaths of British Merchant Seamen from enemy action . Gabe Thomas , former Registrar General of Shipping and Seamen in his own book stated the casualty total at 32,076 dead by enemy action, he stated that a 27 percent casualty rate . Merchant Navy casualties who are commemorated by the “CWGC” gives the figures as a total of 36,749 dead.
MN. Nation. Deaths
British Merchant Navy GBR. 36,534 Royal Navy. 26,500 MN Naval Auxiliary Personnel. GBR. 1,495 Fishing Fleet /Tugs. GBR. 878 RAF Coastal Command Aircraft GBR. Canadian Merchant Navy CAN. 1,271 Australian Merchant Navy AUS. 441
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New Zealand Merchant Navy N Z. 146 Indian Merchant Navy. IND. 6,114 Danish Merchant Navy. DEN. 1,087 Dutch Merchant Navy. NED. 1,914 African Merchant Navy. AFR South Africa MN. SAF 182 Caribbean Merchant Navy. CAR China Merchant Navy. CHI 6,034 Belgium Merchant Navy BEL. 893 France Merchant Navy FRC Poland Merchant Navy. POL Russia Merchant Navy. RUS German Navy/ U-Boats GER. 30,000 Norwegian Merchant Navy. NOR 475 New Foundland MN NFL. 331 Sweden Merchant Navy. SWE USA USA. 5662 Italian Navy U-Boat ITL 500 Greece GRE. 2,000 Republic Ireland. R.O.I. 6,000
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The deaths of 2,713 Naval and DEMS gunners and 1,222 gunners of the Maritime Regiment Royal Artillery are commemorated separately amongst the Armed Forces casualties. Time Adrift Following the sinking of a ship merchant seamen hoped to get out of the water into lifeboats or on to life rafts ( like a stack of pallet boards joined together) and to await rescue living on any supplies 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 and on fire . Survivors of ships sunk in Arctic waters did not fare as well as those in the Atlantic North and South. Lifeboats were often turned over by storm seas and the seafarers had to try and right this. Some had a Sail and others would just drift with the currents . Some were adrift for weeks and others never seen again. Some convoy‘s had rescue ships which steamed with the convoy to stop and rescue surviving merchant seamen from the water. Lifeboats Not rescued might make voyages of miles upon miles , such as a lifeboat from SS.Britannia which sailed 1,500 miles to make land. Durning 23 days adrift 44 of the survivors died from wounds and exposure to the weather . Two merchant seamen survivors of SS.Anglo Saxon survived for 70 days in an open lifeboat before rescue, and merchant seaman Poon Lim , sole survivor of the SS.Benlomond was rescued after 133 days a massive feat , but that was taken over by 135 days by two torpedoed Indian Seamen , Mohamed Aftab and Thakur Miah of the SS. Fort Longueuil . The 4,900 merchant seamen taken prisoner by the Germans were picked up by mainly the U-Boats , and sadly some were killed after being depth charged by our Navy , generally held at a prisoner of war camp known as MILAGROS (Marine Internierten Lager) inside Sandbostel Internment Camp near Bremen. Sir William Elderton in his report for the Ministry of War Transport on 25th November 1946 recorded that 4,633 Merchant Seamen of Britain and Commonwealth were captured and held prisoner in the European theatre , One prisoner of war First radio Officer Walter Skett was murdered by a German camp guard for an unknown reason . Just with Armed Forces prisoners , Merchant Seamen did attempt to escape , Arthur H Bird MBE made it home from Germany via Sweden , Radio Officer Walter Skett was
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shot and killed in his attempt to escape , others managed whilst moving between hospitals . On the occasion of the sinking of the SS.Peleus 13 March 1944 by U-852 in what become known as the “Peleus Incident “ three or four members of the Uboat crew did follow the orders of the submarine commander Heinz Wilhelm Eck , this was to machine gun the wreckage and the survivors in the water .A war crimes trial took place post war and the commander and his officers were shot. This was the only proven case, one other instance was believed to happen involving U-247 after it had sunk the fishing trawler “Noreen Mary” however the U boat was sunk in action shortly afterwards and as such nothing could could be proven. 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-37 made a practice of this , including attack on SS.British Chivalry in a determined attempt to kill survivors. The I-37 did the same after sinking MV.Sutlej , and SS.Ascot and also SS.Tjisala. We had 741 RAF Coastal Command Aircraft lost in anti - submarine sorties , 3,500 Merchant Vessels , 175 warships this includes seconded Merchant ships and Trawlers and fishing boats and also Tugs on RN recorded statistics. A total of 783 German U-boats and 17 Italian U-boats we’re sunk. The death total is estimated and could go up and down. The Irish Mercantile Marine during World War 2 continued essential overseas trade during the conflict. Although the country was declared as Neutral, Irish Merchant Shipping saw to it that vital imports continued to arrive and also the exports , mainly food supplies to Great Britain were delivered. The Irish ships sailed unarmed and usually alone , identifying themselves as neutrals with bright lights and by having the Irish Tricolour painted on the deck and ships sides , nonetheless 20 percent of Seamen serving in Irish ships , these ships always answered SOS signals and stopped to rescue survivors, irrespective of which side they belonged to and rescued over 500 . Ireland was the net food exporter . The excess was shipped to Britain. The Irish Mercantile Marine ensured that Irish agricultural, and other exports reached Britain including cattle , and brought back British coal to Ireland and British Tankers for getting petroleum to Ireland. “Cross -Channel” trade between Ireland and Britain, was one of the main trade routes which without Britain would have suffered more.
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There was a total of 56 Irish ships at the outbreak of World War 2, and lost 16 ships during the conflict. The Belfast Steam ship company which operated the Belfast to Liverpool route ( both British ports ) flew the Tricolour. But no flag could protect you from mines ! Münster struck a mine approaching Liverpool and sank . There were over 200 passengers and 50 crew on board , a few hours later they were all rescued with four injured and one death. We had a similar incident with the Innisfallen hit a mine and sunk leaving Liverpool, out of 220 on board 4 died . We had the ferries Cambria/ Hibernia/ and Scotia were Irish -registered and sailed between Dun Laoghaire and Holyhead , the Scotia was sunk in the evacuation of Dunkirk with the sad loss of 30 crew and 300 troops. We had the first Irish ship sunk SS.Inverliffey on 11th September 1939, she was flying the Irish Tricolour, this was in spite of Captain William Trowsdale’s protesting that they were Irish , U-38 said they were sorry but she was carrying contraband to England . In another encounter with the Irish Tricolour was less gallant U-38 shelled the fishing trawler Leukos, all 11 crew were lost. Wolf Jeschonnek commander of U-607 was mildly reprimanded “ An understandable mistake by an eager Captain for sinking Irish Oak , when U-46 sank SS.Luimneach his dairy read it was flying the British or Irish flag. The ability to insure ships, cargo , and crew has a significant impact on profitability of Shipping !! Insurance of Irish ships was problematic, one important aspect was that Irish ships usually did not travel in convoys and insurers such as Lloyd’s of London charged a higher premium to insure ships not in convoy !! As an example of insurance problems faced by our hero’s the crew of City of Waterford . When the ship joined Convoy OG 74 , the lives of the crew were insured . The ship suffered a collision and sank and were rescued and transferred to the rescue ship Walmer Castle , sadly the Walmer Castle was bombed two days later and five of City of Waterford survivors were killed. When their families made life insurance claims they were refused , because at the time of their deaths they were not crew of City of Waterford, but passengers of Walmer Castle . Later the Irish Government introduced a compensation scheme for Seamen lost or injured on Irish ships and Irish Shipping opened its own Maritime insurance subsidiary. Two Limerick Steamship Company ships, SS Lanahrone and SS Clonlara were part of the nightmare Convoy OG 71, which left Liverpool on the 13th August 1941 As Merchant Ships of a neutral country the Limerick ships had no black out facilities, and the Master of the British Convoy Commodores ship
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the liner SS.Aguila objected that this would make the convoy visible to the enemy of a night . In a attempt to make them less visible the Vice Admiral who was Convoy Commodore positioned the two Irish ships in centre of the convoy. On the 19th August in separate attacks the Norwegian destroyer HNoMS Bath was drawn away from convoy and sunk by U-204, and three minutes later U-559 sank British Merchant ship SS.Alva. The SS.Clonlara rescued 13 survivors from SS.Alva. Two hours later U-201sank the Commodore ship SS.Aguila and the British cargo ship SS. Ciscar. Two days later U-564 sank the SS.Clonlara . The flower class corvette HMS Campion rescued 13 survivors 8 from SS.Clonlara , and 5 from SS.Alva . 8 Merchant ships were lost and 2 Naval escorts, with a total of 400 lives lost. Five of the surviving Merchant ships reached Gibraltar, a further 10 retreated to neutral Portugal this was classed as a bitter act of surrender . In Lisbon the SS.Lanahrones crew went on strike , this was resolve with extra life-rafts . The Irish Poplar was waiting in Lisbon and decided to make its own way home , while the City of Dublin brought the SS.Clonara surviving crew to Cork. SS.Lanahrone joined Convoy HG 73 and nine of the 25 ships in that convoy were lost . These experiences and the inability of the Royal Navy to protect Merchant ships had a most profound effect on all Irish ships . Thereafter they were blacked out when sailing in allied convoys. Shipowners , on the advice of their masters , decided not to sail in British convoys .
The Fighting Spirit of our Merchant Seamen “The Battle of the Atlantic was the dominating factor all through the War . Never for one moment could we forget that everything happening elsewhere, on land, at sea , or in the air , depended on its outcome............ Our Merchant Seamen Displayed their highest qualities, and the brotherhood of the sea was never more strikingly Shown.” W.S.Churchill Closing the Ring
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From Buckingham Palace on Christmas Day HM the King sent the following message to the Merchant Navy and the Fishing Fleets . In the message which I have sent last Christmas to the seamen of the Merchant Navy and Fishing Fleets I said that we could listen with an ever growing hope to the Christmas message of Peace on Earth . That hope has been wonderfully fulfilled by tremendous events in which the Merchant Navy have played a great and vital part. Never was I more proud of the title “ Master of the Merchant Navy and Fishing Fleets “ than at the time of the Normandy Landings, when thousands of Merchant Seamen, in hundreds of ships took across the English Channel on that great adventure our armies and equipment together with complicated gear needed for gaining our footing and driving home our success on the other side . Never was pride better justified.This was the greatest combined services operation the world had ever seen - perhaps the greatest it will ever see. The three fighting services and the Merchant Navy worked as one vast , complex, but perfectly constructed machine and won a resounding victory. Not all of you could be present on that occasion.Most of you had to be elsewhere, serving in other operations in the Mediterranean and Indian Ocean, or sailing other seas - perhaps in bitting cold, perhaps blazing heat , but all engaged on tasks no less vital to our success and safety in these more hopeful days than the dark days we remember so well. All have done their duty nobly and all are in our thoughts. May God be with you and bless you this Christmastide
GEORGE R.1
Compiled and put together by Bill Anderson MNM
Battle of Atlantic 1939_1945.pdf (55.69 KB)
