Irish Merchant Marines

sillymoo2007

would like to find out details of my grandfathers trips in the merchant marines. He was born in 1909 and could have sailed from 1928. Any ideas as to how somebody would find out ??

tac foley

Do you mean merchant marine - the domestic/civilian Irish-owned merchant fleet?

Marines are generally taken to mean a military force of amphibious infantry.

tac

ejmaztec

tac foley wrote: »

Do you mean merchant marine - the domestic/civilian Irish-owned merchant fleet?

Marines are generally taken to mean a military force of amphibious infantry.

tac

I think that Ireland has only had these on a temporary basis during bad floods.:p

ejmaztec

sillymoo2007 wrote: »

would like to find out details of my grandfathers trips in the merchant marines. He was born in 1909 and could have sailed from 1928. Any ideas as to how somebody would find out ??

You might find some clues in these threads:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=74837741

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056139540

getz

sillymoo2007 wrote: »

would like to find out details of my grandfathers trips in the merchant marines. He was born in 1909 and could have sailed from 1928. Any ideas as to how somebody would find out ??

unless you could find one of the shipping companies he sailed on,you will have very little chance ,as there were very few irish[only] shipping companies,the chances are it would be one of the large companies,and yes sillymoo it is called correctly merchant marines [merchant mariners],or it was up to the late 50s when first went in it,

who the fug

sillymoo2007 wrote: »

would like to find out details of my grandfathers trips in the merchant marines. He was born in 1909 and could have sailed from 1928. Any ideas as to how somebody would find out ??

Would suggest he would have gone to see about 1924/25, search Kew in London to see if he had a UK discharge book, as it mostly likely he went deep sea with a British company

sillymoo2007

who the fug wrote: »

Would suggest he would have gone to see about 1924/25, search Kew in London to see if he had a UK discharge book, as it mostly likely he went deep sea with a British company

Thanks for your help. He did in fact belong to the British merchant navy. I found him on the register at kew and have requested a copy of his file. Unfortunately he died in 1994 and refused to talk about his sailing days. My father was too young to remember where he went so it will be fantastic to finally find out. Will post further details when file arrives. Thanks again for all your help.

getz

sillymoo2007 wrote: »

Thanks for your help. He did in fact belong to the British merchant navy. I found him on the register at kew and have requested a copy of his file. Unfortunately he died in 1994 and refused to talk about his sailing days. My father was too young to remember where he went so it will be fantastic to finally find out. Will post further details when file arrives. Thanks again for all your help.

if he had been still in during 1940-1945 he would have had good reason not to talk about it,many of his friends would have never survived

sillymoo2007

getz wrote: »

if he had been still in during 1940-1945 he would have had good reason not to talk about it,many of his friends would have never survived

Yes my dad thinks he was in service as a seaman during the war.

ejmaztec

sillymoo2007 wrote: »

Yes my dad thinks he was in service as a seaman during the war.

He could have well met my grandfather in one of the lifeboats. He was a gunner with the Maritime Royal Artillery, a unit that was set up when it was decided to bolt guns to merchant ships to at least give them a chance of defending themselves. His expertise didn't prevent three of the ships that he was on being sunk in the Atlantic.

He didn't talk about the war either, and we only got information about what happened to him from the rest of his family.

getz

sillymoo2007 wrote: »

Yes my dad thinks he was in service as a seaman during the war.

i went to sea in 57 many of the merchant men who had gone through those years were still at sea and were reluctant to talk about it,and it would have been very traumatic for those who sailed on the russian convoys,there is a good chance he had a medal/atlantic or the russian one,worth checking that may help

getz

ejmaztec wrote: »

He could have well met my grandfather in one of the lifeboats. He was a gunner with the Maritime Marine, a unit that was set up when it was decided to bolt guns to merchant ships to at least give them a chance of defending themselves. His expertise didn't prevent three of the ships that he was on being sunk in the Atlantic.

He didn't talk about the war either, and we only got information about what happened to him from the rest of his family.

have any of you tried the merchant navy national maritime museums website,they keep records of every seaman who sailed on british ships during WW11, your grandads bolt guns on ships,reminds me of my first ship the salacia,it was a liberty boat still going after the war in 1957, we had a spring loaded granade thrower bolted aft,the idea was if the sub did not sink you with the torpedo, he would come up to finish you off with his guns,so you would lob a granade at him,no chance of working,but it was great fun for me a 17yo as at night i could fire potatoes at the officers on bridge

sillymoo2007

Hey guys the copies from kew came today super excited, There are some ship numbers on it and i have looked them up on CLIP, but where do I find crew lists for those ship numbers detailing where he went?