Grandads service record

[Hugh]

Hello Neil,
A couple of corrections if I may and I realise you are just passing on information given to you.
Firstly, DEMS gunners, Navy and Army, did not have Discharge Book's, only Merchant Seamen had these. The gunners did have to sign the articles of agreement along with the rest of the crew and this was the document that brought them under the command of the Master of the ship. They were paid a nominal sum by the ship owner for legal reasons and were issued with plain clothes for going ashore.

If you get hold of his Maritime Card it will certainly help move your research on as otherwise the only way you will find out which ships he served in would be to look at the crew agreement of a known ship (preferably at the end of his service) and work backwards as previous ships were usually noted on the agreement. This approach is not foolproof either especially if a ship he was on was lost as the crew agreement would be with the ship and would not survive. The shore copies of those agreements have not all survived.

Regards
Hugh

[DeepSea]

Just to add a bit more to Hugh's post. DEMS gunners are recorded on the last page of any Crew Agreement and are reffered to and signed on as "Deck Hands" for the reasons stated previous.

[neil edwards]

The form has arrived today to apply for all the medals he is entitled to. We are certainly making progress now so a big thank you to you all for your help, guidance and all the extra information you have provided. We will keep you updated on any news we get back. Hopefully this thread will be of help to others in the future.
REgards Neil.