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Merchant seamen crewed the merchant ships of the British Merchant Navy which kept Great Britain supplied with raw materials, arms, ammunition, fuel, food and all of the necessities of a nation at war throughout World War II 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 through to their late seventies.〔Commonwealth War Graves Commission records〕 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 II and that up to 185,000 men and women served in the Merchant Navy during the wartime.〔(BBC website = WW2 People's War - Merchant Navy )〕〔Slader (1988), p.16〕 36,749 seamen and women were lost by enemy action, 5,720 were taken prisoner and 4,707 were wounded, totaling 47,176 casualties, a minimum casualty rate of over 25 percent. Mr Gabe Thomas, the former Registrar General of Shipping and Seaman (Great Britain) stated that "27 percent of merchant seamen died through enemy action".〔Thomas (1995), p.ix〕 ==Merchant Seamen== Merchant seamen are civilians of both sexes who elect to work at sea, their working practice in 1939 had changed little in hundreds of years. They "signed on" to sail aboard a ship for a voyage or succession of voyages and after being "paid off" at the end of that time were free to either sign on for a further engagement if they were required, or to take unpaid "leave" (furlough) before "signing on" aboard another ship or otherwise to settle and work ashore. Merchant seamen were professional seamen sailing in a wide range of roles from the youngest "Boy" rating learning his chosen profession through to the qualified Master Mariner (locally referred to as the captain), all were merchant seamen regardless of role or rank. On one engagement a seaman could be a member of the crew of the 81,000-ton ocean liner RMS Queen Mary serving as a troopship between Australia and England and on their next engagement they might be sailing in a 400-ton coastal collier delivering coal from the collieries of the north-east of England to London’s power stations on the Thames Estuary. His engagement aboard ship might be for two or three weeks or for twelve months or more away from England depending upon the work the ship was to carry out.〔Hope (1982), various〕〔Dyer (1988), p.3〕 Merchant Seamen aboard British registered vessels during World War II were both male and female and might be registered with the British, Indian, Canadian, Australian or New Zealand Merchant navies, or the Fishing Fleet. The youngest merchant seamen were invariably "Boy" ratings, Deck Boys, Galley Boys, Mess Room Boys, Stewards Boys or Cabin Boys and were typically 14 or 15 years of age.〔(CWGC details – WC Hills (aged 14) )〕 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.〔(CWGC details – KJ Lewis (aged 14) )〕〔(CWGC details – RL Lewis (aged 15) )〕 Frequent cases of family members sailing together occurred but this had tragic results when ships were lost, for example three members of the Attard family from Gozo, Malta were lost on 15 September 1941 when the ss."Newbury" was lost, three Roberts brothers were lost on 23 June 1941 when the ss."Arakaka" was lost.〔(CWGC details – Roberts brothers )〕 Although sailing aboard different ships was not a failsafe 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.〔Commonwealth War Graves Commission〕 The oldest known serving merchant seamen were in their seventies, Chief Cook Santan Martins of the SS Calabria (1922) was aged 79 when he was killed in action in its sinking by U-103 in December 1940.〔(CWGC details – S Martins (aged 79) )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「British merchant seamen of World War II」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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