page_title: British merchant seamen of World War II
section_title: Emergency Work Order – May 1941
hierarchical_section_title: British merchant seamen of World War II / Emergency Work Order – May 1941
caption_attribution_description: English: Sailor "Ola" aboard merchant ship Vestmanrød during Normandy invasion
context_page_description: Merchant seamen crewed the ships of the British Merchant Navy which kept the United Kingdom supplied with raw materials, arms, ammunition, fuel, food and all of the necessities of a nation at war throughout World War II — literally enabling the country to defend itself. In doing this, they sustained a considerably greater casualty rate than almost every other branch of the armed services and suffered great hardship. Seamen were aged from fourteen through to their late seventies.
  The office of the Registrar General of Shipping and Seamen calculated that 144,000 merchant seamen were serving aboard British registered merchant ships at the outbreak of World War II and that up to 185,000 men and women served in the Merchant Navy during the war. 36,749 seamen and women were lost to enemy action, 5,720 were taken prisoner and 4,707 were wounded, totaling 47,176 casualties, a minimum casualty rate of over 25 percent. Mr Gabe Thomas, the former Registrar General of Shipping and Seaman stated that "27 percent of merchant seamen died through enemy action".
context_section_description: In May 1941, "Emergency Work (Merchant Navy) Order, Notice No. M198" was passed by the British Parliament in recognition of the desperate situation facing Great Britain. Under this new order, a Merchant Navy Reserve Pool was established, which was to ensure that available seamen were allocated to ships which needed crew, it required seamen to continue to serve for the duration of the war, they were guaranteed a wage for that period including time spent in lifeboats or in captivity and it provided for two days paid leave earned per month served.
caption: A veteran merchant seaman
exif: {"Image Artist": "Admin", "Image ExifOffset": "2128", "Image XPAuthor": "Admin", "Image Padding": "[]", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2011:09:03 19:22:46", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2011:09:03 19:22:46", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "99", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "99", "EXIF Padding": "[]"}