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Author : Richard Woodman
ISBN : 9780747813484
Genre : History
File Size : 34.16 MB
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At one time British ships carried half of the world's trade, transporting every conceivable type of freight from and to all four corners of the globe – and in times of crisis the merchant fleet has also offered military assistance. In fact, the merchant convoys and armed cruisers that defied the German blockades to supply Britain in the First World War were so pivotal that they were recognised as a second 'navy' – the Merchant Navy. This fleet again saw service in the Second World War, continuing to keep Britain provisioned even in its darkest hour. Richard Woodman here relates the Merchant Navy's colourful history and brings to life the day-to-day experiences of the seamen.
Author : Sir Archibald Hurd
ISBN : 1290524947
Genre : History
File Size : 22.45 MB
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Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.
Author : Peter Elphick
ISBN : UOM:39015048837945
Genre : History
File Size : 80.40 MB
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Great Britain's Merchant Navy suffered proportionately the highest casualties of any of its branches of service in the Second World War. In this book, Peter Elphick tells the story of the Merchant Navy through a series of individual accounts. From countless interviews with survivors he has succeeded in portraying, in the most vivid manner possible, what it was really like to serve at sea in every theater of the war. This book redresses the balance in the history of the Second World War at sea, showing for the first time just what the sailors of the Merchant Navy had to face to keep Britain's lifeline open.
Author : Gordon Cook
ISBN : 9781315346939
Genre : Medical
File Size : 80.50 MB
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In this unique, highly detailed examination, Gordon C Cook explores disease in the merchant navy through the history of the Seamen's Hospital Society. From its foundation in 1812, until the present day, the Seamen's Hospital Society has been responsible for the physical welfare of merchant seamen and has headed many remarkable advances in medical science. This handsome volume is ideal for all those with an interest in the Seamen's Hospital Society, medical and naval historians, and general readers with an interest in maritime and naval history.
This final volume of the history of the Merchant Navy takes us from the onset of unrestricted submarine warfare to the conclusion of hostilities, and its prime concern is to give an account of the ordeal to which the seamen were subjected in the last twenty months of the war. But it also gives a good account of how the Merchant Navy took the war to the enemy through the 10th Cruiser Squadron and the Auxiliary Patrol, and in surface engagements involving British armed merchant cruisers. The losses to British merchant shipping make grim reading. For the five months from February 1917 (the start of intensive U boat operations) to the end of June 1,837,842 tons (590 ships) were lost at a cost of 2,942 lives; April was the worst month of the war with 516,394 tons (155 ships) sunk by submarines and 997 lives lost. During this period the convoy system was introduced and developed and problems and successes are discussed as well as other steps taken to combat the menace of the U boat and mine: the hydrophone; the depth charge; dazzle painting and its effect; the paravane; the smoke screen and the tactics of stalking and hunting. The German attitude to Hospital ships in light of the Berlin Declaration of 28 January 1917 is discussed. This declaration is reproduced in full and the British response to accusations of misuse of ships sailing under the Red Cross. Several sinkings of hospital ships are described, that of the Llandovery Castle on 27 June 1918 (only 24 survivors out of 258) in great detail. There is a chapter on merchant seamen prisoners, their treatment, the camps where and the conditions in which they were held. An appendix shows the number and gross tonnage of British merchant vessels and fishing vessels lost through enemy action during each month of the war, the final total of merchant ships is 2,479, gross tonnage 7,759,090, with a loss of 14,287 men. Six hundred and seventy-five fishing vessels were lost (71,765 gross tonnage) at a cost of 434 lives.
