Badge of the British Merchant Navy
Happy Merchant Navy Day! In Great Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand today, September 3rd, is celebrated as Merchant Navy Day – an official day of remembrance of the sacrifices made by merchant mariners in war-time. In World War I and World War II, over 45, 000 British merchant mariners lost their lives. The observance began in Great Britain in 2000, in Canada in 2001, and in Australia in 2008. This years is New Zealand’s first official observance of Merchant Navy Day. In the United Sates, May 22nd has been celebrated as National Maritime Day since 1933.
RICK: Thank you for remembering us ‘Merch’ types.
Hope your weather clears up and you have a great Labour oops Labor Day weekend.
Good Watch.
Thank you Peter. It is indeed the merchant marine that keeps the world moving, despite what the gray stack line types might think.
I looks like Earl is going easy on us (though i may be speaking too soon.) Hope you have a lovely weekend as well.
The Big Remembrance
24 hour Act of Remembrance on World Maritime Day
Maritime Charity urges public to remember merchant seafarers on 23rd September
To mark World Maritime Day during the International Year of the Seafarer the Principal Chaplain of the global charity Sailors’ Society will be leading a ceremony during which each of the 35,675 names on the National Merchant Navy Memorials in Trinity Gardens, London will be read aloud.
The Tower Hill memorial which was built by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and unveiled in December 1928, stands as a visible reminder of the sacrifices made by Merchant Seafarers in times of military conflict, and who have no grave but the sea.
The Sailors’ Society is committed to replacing isolation with belonging for the world’s seafarers and has supported them and their families for the past 193 years. The Society believes that the event will serve as a formal and dignified Act of Remembrance. It will take 24 hours to read each name on the memorial and ensure that each and every seafarer’s contribution has been recognised. Principal Chaplain Revd. David Potterton will be assisted in the reading by other Sailors’ Society Port Chaplains, staff and supporters, as well as by Merchant Navy Veterans from the Prince of Wales Sea Training School Association, remembering their shipmates who perished at sea.
Revd David Potterton, Principal Chaplain at the Sailors’ Society said,
“We wanted every name on the memorials to be read on World Maritime Day as a reminder of the huge loss of merchant seafarers in times of military conflict. Every ship and every name will be remembered to ensure that they are honoured and not forgotten.”
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission, which built and now maintains the Tower Hill Memorial is backing the event. The Commission’s Director-General Richard Kellaway said:
“At over 22,500 sites in 150 countries, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission helps ensure that those men and women who laid down their lives are never forgotten. I hope this event to honour seafarers will help remind people of the sacrifice of those who helped keep Britain and the Commonwealth supplied during the darkest days of war.”
The reading of names will commence at 0001hrs on 23rd September and conclude at 2400hrs the same day.