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APPENDIX

COMPELLED by the nature of their work to be long absent from home ports,
seamen are frequently in ignorance of the current of longshore opinion.
Newspapers do not reach out to the sea-routes (as yet), and the media of
Guild Gazettes and Association Reporters come somewhat late on the tide
of an appreciation. The tremendous historical importance of the Nation's
Thanks to its Fighting Forces (in which the Merchants' Service was
included) has not adequately been realized by the merchantmen. Some do
not even know of it. For these reasons--not in a spirit of 'pride above
desert'--the writer quotes the following:

The Resolution of Parliament of October 29, 1917, placed upon record--

"That the thanks of this House be accorded to the
officers and men of the Mercantile Marine for the
devotion to duty with which they have continued to
carry the vital supplies to the Allies through
seas infested with deadly perils."

A year later, an equally generous appreciation of the work of the
Merchants' Service was issued by the Board of Admiralty.

"On the occasion of the first Meeting of the Board
of Admiralty after the signing of the German
Armistice, their Lordships desire, on behalf of
the Royal Navy, to express their admiration and
thanks to the Owners, Masters, Officers, and Crews
of the British Mercantile Marine, and to those
engaged in the Fishing Industry, for the
incomparable services which they have rendered
during the War, making possible and complete the
Victory which is now being celebrated.

"The work of the Mercantile Marine has been
inseparably connected with that of the Royal Navy,
and without the loyal co-operation of the former,
the enemy's Submarine Campaign must inevitably
have achieved its object. The Mercantile Marine
from the beginning met this unprecedented form of
warfare with indomitable courage, magnificent
endurance, and a total disregard of danger and
death, factors which the enemy had failed to take
into account and which went far towards defeating
his object.

"In no small measure also has the success achieved
against the submarine been due to the interest
taken by Owners in the defensive