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Survivors British Merchant Seamen
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Book Synopsis SURVIVORS: BRITISH MERCHANT SEAMEN by : G. H. Bennett
Download or read book SURVIVORS: BRITISH MERCHANT SEAMEN written by G. H. Bennett and published by Burns & Oates. This book was released on 1999 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Winning the Battle of the Atlantic was critical to Britain's survival in the Second World War. The British Merchant Navy suffered enormous losses of both ships and men, particularly in the early years of the war. Sailing through U-boat wolf-packs across the Atlantic, or on the perilous routes to Malta and Murmansk, took a special kind of courage. Ships often sank within minutes of being torpedoed. Survivors is the history of this epic struggle. It is a graphic account of how the ships were attacked and sunk, how crews reacted, how they attempted to launch their lifeboats and how they ended up swimming or clinging to debris, or making long voyages in lifeboats or on rafts. Death might come at any stage, yet the will to live and the resourcefulness and skill of the seamen enabled a surprising number to survive. "There was a terrific smash and everything was pandemonium on deck. The wheel house collapsed on top of me and I was trapped by the concrete slabs which had fallen on me and pinned me to the deck. I think that the ship sank in about thirty seconds after breaking in two ... Although I was trapped, I could see everything over my head. The stern burst into flames and I saw flames forward. I could see the water coming up and coming over my head. The ship hit the bottom and turned over, the debris was thrown off me and I was released and I came to the surface."--Sinking of SS Abukir, 28 May 1940
Download or read book Survivors written by G. H. Bennett and published by Hambledon Press. This book was released on 2007 with total page 287 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Winning the Battle of the Atlantic was critical to Britain's survival in WW2. The British Merchant Navy suffered enormous losses in the Atlantic, both of ships and men. This book tells the epic story of the British Merchant seamen during the war.
Book Synopsis Survivors of Enemy Action by : Bernard Edwards
Download or read book Survivors of Enemy Action written by Bernard Edwards and published by Pen and Sword Maritime. This book was released on 2023-07-30 with total page 210 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The war years 1939 – 1945 were the most perilous in the long history of the British Merchant Navy. The figures speak for themselves. With 2,535 ships sunk and 36,749 merchant seamen lost, the proportional casualty rate was higher than any branch of the Armed Forces except for Bomber Command. The danger to the lightly armed merchant ships came from enemy air attacks, surface warships, raiders and, of course submarines. Prisoners were seldom taken so the crews of stricken vessels had to fend for themselves. Those who survived enemy action faced death by drowning, exposure and lack of food and water. Compiled mainly from experiences related direct to the author, this inspiring book draws on first-hand accounts of the lucky few who survived. With extraordinary honesty and modesty their stories describe the events leading up to the enemy attack, the actions and the aftermath. Readers will be struck by the courage and fortitude of these men who often suffered extreme hardship and privation. Too many died before reaching land or being rescued. These men are without doubt the unsung heroes of the Second World War and this fine book is an overdue recognition of their sacrifices and courage.
Book Synopsis Survivors of Enemy Action by : BERNARD. EDWARDS
Download or read book Survivors of Enemy Action written by BERNARD. EDWARDS and published by . This book was released on 2023-05-30 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Book Synopsis Merchant Marine Survivors of World War II by : Michael Gillen
Download or read book Merchant Marine Survivors of World War II written by Michael Gillen and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2015-01-02 with total page 216 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: World War II could not have been won without the U.S. Merchant Marine. Crewed by civilian seamen in peacetime and carrying much of the nation's ocean-borne commerce, the Merchant Marine became the "fourth arm of defense" in wartime, providing vital support for beachheads in all theaters of operation. Twenty World War II Merchant Marine veterans are featured in this oral history. Most had at least one ship torpedoed, bombed, shelled or mined out from under them--some of them two. Some became prisoners of the Japanese for the duration of the war, working on the infamous River Kwai Bridge. Many spent time on lifeboats or flimsy rafts under harsh conditions; one--Donald Zubrod--endured 42 days in a lifeboat with several others before their eventual rescue, close to death. American merchant mariners suffered a casualty rate that was a close second to the Marine Corps during the war.
Book Synopsis The Quiet Heroes by : Bernard Edwards
Download or read book The Quiet Heroes written by Bernard Edwards and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2010-08-19 with total page 201 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The men of Britain's Merchant Navy, although unarmed civilians going about their lawful business were the first to be involved with the enemy in the Second World War. Less than nine hours after the declaration of war on 3 September 1939, the Donaldson liner Athenia was sunk without warning by a German U-boat off the west coast of Ireland. From that moment onwards, British merchant seamen were constantly in the front line in all quarters of the globe. For almost six years they faced, without flinching, their own private hell of torpedoes, bombs, shells and mines, all the while fending off their old arch-enemy, the sea. Sorely pressed, and often tired near to death, they kept open Britain's tenuous lifelines, bringing millions of tons of raw materials, food, oil, arms and ammunition, without which the country could not have survived. As always, their spirit was indomitable, their professionalism unchallenged. The price they paid for their bravery and dedication was horrendous: 2,246 ships lost, 29,180 men killed, and countless hundreds maimed and wounded. This book tells the story of just a few of these quiet heroes.
Book Synopsis British Merchantmen at War by : Great Britain. Ministry of War Transport
Download or read book British Merchantmen at War written by Great Britain. Ministry of War Transport and published by . This book was released on 1944 with total page 150 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Book Synopsis The Merchant Seamen's War by : Tony Lane
Download or read book The Merchant Seamen's War written by Tony Lane and published by Manchester University Press. This book was released on 1990 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Book Synopsis Last Ship from Rangoon by : John Van Wyck Gould
Download or read book Last Ship from Rangoon written by John Van Wyck Gould and published by AuthorHouse. This book was released on 2015-08-04 with total page 182 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On March 7, 1942, in the midst of WWII, a British merchant ship fled Burma (now Myanmar) only minutes ahead of the invading Japanese army. This vessel, the last ship from Rangoon, acts as the starting point for an engrossing account of escape, suspense, hope and courage. In this period largely undocumented by American literature, fear and desperation invade the lives of British Merchant seamen as violence threatens their welfare, their ships, and their livelihoods. Last Ship from Rangoon recounts a harrowing tale of 132 seamens arduous efforts to return to England; imprisoned by the Senegalese, these men must flee from an inescapable French prison and hack their way through dense jungle toward the English colony of Gambia. Based upon the story of a retired British Merchant Marine seaman, whom he met whilst traveling in South East Asia, John Van Wyck Gould has crafted a tale of adventure, courage, hardship, and survival.
Book Synopsis Churchill's Thin Grey Line by : Bernard Edwards
Download or read book Churchill's Thin Grey Line written by Bernard Edwards and published by Grub Street Publishers. This book was released on 2017-11-30 with total page 283 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The naval historian and retired merchant navy captain recounts the contributions of Britain’s civilian ships during WWII in this “cracking read” (The Bridgend & Porthcawl Gem). The first British casualties of the Second World War were not members of the Royal Navy, the army, or the Royal Air Force. They were British merchant seamen on the transatlantic passenger liner SS Athenia, torpedoed by a German U-30 submarine on September 3, 1939. For the duration of the war, Britain’s merchant fleet performed a vital role, carrying the essential supplies that kept the country running during the darkest days and made victory possible. Their achievements came at a terrible cost with 2,535 British oceangoing merchant ships being sunk and, of the 185,000 men and women serving in the British Merchant Navy at the time, 36,749 sacrificed their lives. Another 4,707 were wounded and 5,720 ended up as prisoners of war. Their casualty rate of twenty-five percent was second only to RAF Bomber Command’s. Thoroughly researched and full of fascinating true accounts, Bernard Edwards’s Churchill’s Thin Grey Line tells the inspiring story of those brave civilian volunteers who fought so gallantly to defend their ships, cargo, and country. “A cracking read which brings home to the reader how much we in [England] owe to the Merchant Navy . . . Bernard Edwards has done them proud.” —The Bridgend & Porthcawl Gem
Book Synopsis The Real Cruel Sea by : Richard Woodman
Download or read book The Real Cruel Sea written by Richard Woodman and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2011-07-06 with total page 729 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The renowned maritime historian’s compelling study of the vital role played by merchant seamen during WWII in the Battle of the Atlantic. For the British, the Battle of the Atlantic was a fight for survival. They depended on the safe transit of hundreds of merchant ships carrying food and supplies from America to feed the country and keep the war effort going. On top of that, they had to export manufactured goods to pay for it all. Britain's merchant navy, a disparate collection of private vessels, had become the country's lifeline. While its seamen were officially non-combatants, they bravely endured the onslaught of the German U-boat offensive until Allied superiority overwhelmed the enemy. Drawing extensively on first-hand sources, Richard Woodman establishes the importance of the British and Allied merchant fleets in the struggle against Germany. This important study elevates the heroic seamen who manned these ships to their rightful place in the history of the Second World War.
Book Synopsis The Fleets Behind the Fleet by : William Macneile Dixon
Download or read book The Fleets Behind the Fleet written by William Macneile Dixon and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 1917 with total page 114 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What follows is not written to praise our merchant sailors and fishermen. They are indeed worthy of all praise. But we looked for nothing else than that they would in every circumstance of trial and danger show themselves to be what they are, peerless. At what date or on what occasion in their history have they failed? From a fierier ordeal a firmer courage and a harder resolution have emerged, as we believed it would. Of this the world is already very well aware. Their friends know it and their foes. What remains then is not to praise them but to instruct ourselves. Our vision has been limited. We knew that in the Navy lay our strength, but in our thoughts we defined it as the Royal Navy. Till these troubled years the Merchant Service had for many Englishmen only a shadowy existence. For the first time it has come acutely home to us that "the sea is all one, -the navy is all one."
Book Synopsis Flying the Red Duster by : Morris Beckman
Download or read book Flying the Red Duster written by Morris Beckman and published by The History Press. This book was released on 2011-10-21 with total page 165 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Following the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force from Dunkirk in 1940, Britain was at her most vulnerable. France had capitulated and the Germans had control of ports from the Arctic to the Mediterranean. Nazi U-boats were at Britain's doorstep, and in that year alone they sunk 204 ships, a gross tonnage of 2,435,667. Britain stood alone against Germany and a vital lifeline was the supplies carried by the civilian Merchant Navy, defended only by the thinly stretched Royal Navy. Winston Churchill conceded that his greatest fear was the slaughter of merchant seaman, who worked in harsh conditions, were often poorly fed, and were always at the mercy of the Kriegsmarine. In Flying the Red Duster, Morris Beckman tells the story of his experiences as a merchant seaman during the Battle of the Atlantic, part of the civilian force which enabled Britain to avoid capitulation to Nazi Germany. Based on his wartime diary - the unique document now held at the Imperial War Museum - this work allows the reader unique access to a time which is fast slipping from living memory.
Book Synopsis DARING DEEDS OF MERCHANT SEAMEN IN THE GREAT WAR by : Harold Felix Baker Wheeler
Download or read book DARING DEEDS OF MERCHANT SEAMEN IN THE GREAT WAR written by Harold Felix Baker Wheeler and published by . This book was released on 1918 with total page 342 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Book Synopsis Repatriation of American Seamen by : United States. Congress. House. Merchant Marine and Fisheries
Download or read book Repatriation of American Seamen written by United States. Congress. House. Merchant Marine and Fisheries and published by . This book was released on 1942 with total page 50 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Convoy written by Philip Kaplan and published by White Lion Publishing. This book was released on 1998 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The ships and men of the Allied merchant navies. Without the British Merchant Navy, the American Merchant Marine and the Canadian Merchant Navy, Britain could not have survived even a few weeks of war.
Download or read book Life Line written by Peter Elphick and published by Bloomsbury Academic. This book was released on 1999 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Publisher description.
