YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

Over five million tons of enemy merchant
shipping sunk or damaged.

T tnceasingly, day and night, in stormy

I J seas or calm, under clear skies or in dense fog, the ships
of the Royal Navy continuously cut their difficult,
hazardous passage across the oceans.

Relentless, they force a way through ice and snow, taking
the Arctic route to reinforce Russia j braving constant enemy
air and submarine attack, their convoys pass through the narrow
waters of the English Channel. Charging into the very teeth of
the worst perils they supply Malta . . . patiently, insistently
they pursue the long course to reach South Africa with vital
supplies of planes, army lorries, machinery and other goods,
and Australia with generating plant, tanks and machine tools.
Theirs also is the job of escorting troopships to the Middle East
and to India.

For in this colossal world-campaign the scenes of action are
widely separated, yet closely entwined strategically. 8o,coo
miles of trade routes are regularly patrolled by the British Navy.

Well over 100,000 British and Allied ships have been
convoyed, and shipping losses in these convoys up to the end
of February 1942, have been less than one in two hundred.
During 1941, 30,000 vehicles (in 300 ships) were transported
to the Middle East; while up to March 1942, 3,000,000 tons
of war supplies and food had been landed in Egyptian ports.

Prior to the occupation of Madagascar, a large expedition of
all arms took many weeks on its 8,000 mile journey, but arrived
safely, secretly and in time ! Thousands of troops were ferried
across from Africa to the threatened Island of Ceylon.

The Royal Navy co-operated successfully with Commandos
in the Lofoten Islands raid, St. Nazaire, and in other major raids
and continue to threaten the enemy on a coastline of many
thousands of miles.

Estimated losses inflicted on Japanese shipping in the
Far East and the Pacific by the Royal Navy stood at the end
of 1941 at 128,000 tons, and up to that time, 5,225,000 tons of
Axis shipping was sunk or damaged. In 1941, 22 German
surface-raiders and their supply ships were put out of action.

In action off the Malacca Straits in 1942, three large
Japanese transport ships were accounted for by British
submarines.The RED Ensign

TyTO LESS DRAMATIC OR VALUABLE TO THE
f\ war effort as a whole are the contributions of the
^ Merchant Navy.

These merchant vessels, and their gallant, intrepid
crews still hold their own upon the seas, defying all obstacles,
“ taking ” mines, bombs and torpedoes in their stride. Stead-
fastly they, too, face hardship in the Arctic zones or in the
tropics, determined at all costs to do their arduous job
thoroughly.

Without them would Britain have been able to honour her
commitments to Russia ?

When, in Moscow, Lord Beaverbrook pledged Britain to
produce for the Soviet the staggering quantities of arms,
medicaments and drugs asked for by the Russian leaders,
the Merchant Seamen—visualising their heavy responsibility—
might well have quailed.

Yet, to their undying glory, with the sole exception of one
tank, the entire consignment was delivered.

★

During 1941 over a million tons of supplies
and 830,000 vehicles were convoyed.Owing to the bravery and vigilance of the Merchant Navy,
between 30 and 40 million tons of raw materials, war supplies
and food have been received yearly in the United Kingdom, and
over 80 per cent, of Britain’s war production has been carried
overseas to other war fronts.

To keep pace with these huge demands on shipping, the ship-
yards have been taxed to their limit. As well as building new
ships, and Britain now has a bigger shipbuilding programme in
hand than in the last war, the shipyards have to keep damaged
vessels in repair, and rush them out to sea again.

To achieve this, the number of men engaged in the ship-
building industry has been doubled, and men and women alike
work long hours.

In 1941 it was stated that 800,000 tons of shipping was the
average per week being repaired. A vivid example of the
speed-up in the shipbuilding yard proper is provided by a
recent performance when a 10,700-ton tramp was delivered
three months after the keel was laid.

Meanwhile, again thanks to the Merchant Navy, a constant
exchange of vital war supplies continues between Britain and
the great Dominions.

It is a significant truth that before the war, when Empire
Preference became law, the trading and exchange of many
commodities between Britain and the Dominions greatly
increased their joint prosperity.

Unquestionably these great countries should wisely pool
their resources. Not only are they necessary to each other
in the anxious perplexing days they are now passing through,
but clearly the trade relations of Britain, Canada, South Africa,
Australia and New Zealand will be more closely linked than
ever before.

The men of the Merchant Navy show endless patience,
endless endurance. The shore workers of the Allied Nations
will not let them down. Caring ever for each other’s interests,
united in their aims, the Allies pulling together will attain
victory.