OCTOBER 2025

WE REMEMBER

While we will be remembering the Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen of the British armed forces who lost their lives in conflict on Sunday 9th November, let us also remember those men who served in the Merchant Navy.Being an Island, here many men were serving in the Merchant Navy at the start of hostilities.  Generally we think of the first or second world wars, where terms such as the Battle for the Atlantic and the Arctic and Malta Convoys have been written about and portrayed in films.  The survival rate for men on any Merchant ship sunk in enemy action was low.

During WWII it is estimated that over 35,000 Merchant Seamen lost their lives.  35,000.  Some seamen who survived long enough to get back to the Island died of their wartime injuries, or their bodies were brought back here for burial.  There are ten Merchant Sailor War Graves on the Island.  These proudly display the crest of the Merchant Navy.  Many more Island men have no known grave but the ocean.  Sixty five are remembered on our war memorials.

P.S. Whippingham serving in the Royal Navy

Ships taken up from trade, (STUFT), were those Merchant Vessels requisitioned by the Royal Navy.  These included some of our local Cross Solent Ferries, such as the PS Whippingham, which served as a minesweeper during WWII.  She flew the White ensign instead of the Red while on active service. The flag she flew while supporting the Normandy landings is now at East Cowes Heritage Centre.Other Merchant vessels played a valuable role in the Normandy landings. The men serving on Trinity House Vessels look after all the light houses, Light vessels and buoys around the coast. 

Memorial to men of Trinity House

It was the East Cowes Depot of Trinity House who co-ordinated five of their ships which followed the minesweepers as the channel was cleared of mines.  Buoys were laid to show the armada of vessels the safe route to the Normandy beaches.But conflicts since 1945 have also claimed lives of Merchant seamen.  Many of us remember watching the Royal Naval vessels leaving Portsmouth to go to the Falklands.  Even more poignant was watching the return of the liner Canberra to her home port of Southampton after the end of the conflict.  She was a STUFT vessel serving as a hospital ship in the Falklands.  Forty-four other Merchant Navy vessels were STUFT during that conflict, carrying fuel, water, provisions, men and armament to supply the British Forces.  The SS Atlantic Conveyor was destroyed, with six Merchant seamen losing their lives. 

Canberra returning from the Falkands

When a Merchant vessel was requisitioned, the seamen already on board could ask to be relieved from entering a war zone.  It was up to the company running the ship to get the man back to the UK, but it did not do the man’s future career prospects much good.It is heartening to see that the Victoria Cross Society were willing to clean not only those graves of service people during their visit to the Island recently, but also those of civilians who died. 

The ARP memorial at St James' Churchyard East Cowes

They included the WWII ARP memorial in East Cowes St James’ Churchyard.They also cleaned a memorial at Kingston Cemetery to the seven men of Trinity House who died while trying to clear a wreck from the Brambles Bank in 1894.    

Thanks go to the many people who help us to remember the sacrifices of civilians as well as our armed forces.

Sarah Burdett