The Merchant Marine

ver 90 percent of the world’s trade travels by sea. The merchant marine encompasses the commercial ships of a nation, whether privately or publicly owned, along with the personnel that operate such ships. Merchant ships are used to transport people, raw materials, and manufactured goods. Merchant fleets can be important economic assets for nations that have limited natural resources or a relatively small industrial base. By carrying the commerce of other nations on the seas, a merchant fleet contributes to its home nation’s foreign-exchange earnings, promotes trade, and provides employment.

Merchant shipping includes cargo ships, passenger ships, and tankers. Cargo ships can be either liners, which travel on established routes at regular intervals between specified ports; or tramps, which instead take cargo where and when it offers and to any port. Some of the newer types of cargo ships are bulk carriers, which transport ores or other dry cargoes in bulk; container ships, which handle standardised containers in a highly mechanised fashion; and roll-on, roll-off ships, which handle cargoes through their bow or stern ports. Passenger ships include ocean liners, cruise ships, and ferries.

For long periods of the last milennium the British Merchant Fleet had the largest fleet in the world.

Canada, like several other Commonwealth nations created its own Merchant Navy in a large-scale effort in World War Two. Established in 1939, the Canadian Merchant Navy played a major role in the Battle of the Atlantic bolstering the Allies’ merchant fleet due to high losses in the British Merchant Navy. Eventually thousands of Canadians served in the Merchant Navy aboard hundreds of Canadian merchant ships, notably the “Park Ships”, the Canadian equivalent of the American “Liberty Ship”.

At the end of World War II the United States operated nearly half the world’s oceangoing merchant marine, and Great Britain had another major share. Both nations’ fleets declined in the postwar years, however, and Japan and Greece had become the largest oceangoing shippers by the end of the 20th century. During the 20th century people known as “The Golden Greeks”, such as Aristotle Onassis and Stavros Niarchos, attracted attention due to their entrepreneurial success and lavish lifestyles. The families were well-known rivals, and both controlled fleets exceeding one million tonnes.

Many ships owned in other countries operate under Liberian or Panamanian registry to avoid the heavy taxes and intrusive regulations imposed by their home nations.

A Special Bond

“The time I spent in the British Merchant Service is so precious to me that words can not really describe the memories that I hold, both of the ships and those mates that sailed them.

The ships, once they had their full complement of crew became alive, vibrant and developed their own character. One could not do without the other and everyone became aware of the responsibilities that were entrusted to them. It is true that we all accepted each other as ‘Board of Trade Aquaintances’ and at times there was no love lost between some members of the crew, but in times of trouble we became as one, no matter what the circumstances were.

When the ships engines burst into life and the winches on deck start winding in ropes and springs you can feel the life begin to surge through the ship. Sailors on deck securing the derricks, those on the bridge adhering to the commands of the officer of the watch, the familiar sounds of the telegraph bells clanging in the engine room, engineers at the control platform and firemen tending the fires and ‘watching the blood’, cooks preparing the meals and stewards going about making life comfortable for the officers and paying passengers.

Suddenly there is a change, the ship has come alive and one can feel the vibration of the engines coming up through your legs. Familiar noises can be heard, and all this has become part of your life and those memories have remained.

Never again will we be able to experience the bonds that drew us together, the excitement of different places, mateship, going ashore, experiencing the pleasures that were there for the asking and then being able to come home to the safety and security of the ship.” - John Devenish, mariner and member of the “Black Gang”.

Recommended Books

School of the Sea
by Stephen Richardson. Published by Whittles. ISBN 978 1 904445 58 6

During the Second World War years some 30,000 merchant seamen on British ships lost their lives on 4800 ships sunk or damaged. These ships were unarmed and faced the ever-present danger of being torpedoed. As well, there were winter storms in the Atlantic, the hazards of navigating convoys in darkness through ice floes, and extreme heat in the Red Sea and Persian Gulf (no air-conditioning in those days...)

This book is important because it is a candid account of the effect of war on daily life at sea; many other books focus on specific incidents of death and destruction but this one is “the real stuff of the war at sea” as Tony Lane, former director of the Seafarers International Research Centre, acknowledges.

The author’s diary of his time as an apprentice and later as an officer, upon which the book is based, is now in the Merseyside Maritime Museum in Liverpool.

Richardson went on to gain his Master Mariner certificate and later emigrated to the United States. In 1998, age 78, he sailed as a volunteer crew member of Cook’s replica ship Endeavour.

More Days, More Dollars
by Richard Woodman, Published by The History Press. ISBN 978 0 7524 4821 3

This is the fourth title in Richard Woodman’s monumental five-volume series on the history of the Merchant Navy. Sub-titled “The Universal Bucket Chain”, it covers the period 1885 – 1920. By the end of the nineteenth century the Merchant Navy was the world’s largest carrier of people, manufactured goods and raw materials. Almost every British family had a member serving in merchant ships – from ocean liners to deep-sea tramp steamers. Woodman chronicles how this was achieved in the face of a ceaseless struggle against the elements as well as the impact of a feared new enemy after 1914, the German U-boat.

The earlier titles are:

“Neptune's Trident: Spices and Slaves 1500-1507”
“Britannia's Realm: in Support of the State 1763-1816”
“Masters Under God: Makers of Empire 1816-1884”
“Fiddlers Green: 1921-2010”
   was published in 2010

Links

Merchant Navy nostalgia The golden days of the 50s and 60s

Sea Vision raising awareness of maritime activities

Red Duster UK Merchant Navy historical information

Merchant Navy Association official website

Maritime History Archive the North Atlantic region

Blue Star Line founded in Liverpool

Cunard Line the most famous liners in the world

“The Love Boat” show and Cunard

White Star Line famous for the ill-fated flagship, Titanic