Maritime Royal Artillery

Discussion in 'Royal Artillery' started by Jo Usher, Jul 16, 2019.

  1. Hugh MacLean

    Hugh MacLean Senior Member

    MRA, DEMS gunners are difficult to research as service records do not usually show the gunner’s service afloat – this is recorded on a maritime card and many have not survived. I would suggest Bruneval #19 was quite lucky if service records gave all of his service afloat.

    On 6th May 1941 the Bren Gun Scheme, Port Gunners and Coastal Shuttle Service were combined to form the Maritime Anti-Aircraft Royal Artillery. In September 1941, Port Gunners were transferred to seagoing duties as enemy attacks on ports decreased. Owing to the demands of the Russian and Atlantic convoys the Army provided a further 3,000 men in October 1942.

    The Maritime Royal Artillery was established in January 1943. In March 1943 the establishment was reorganised into six regiments, each consisting of a Regimental Headquarters, Training Battery and Holding Battery. Each regiment was responsible for a designated area of shipping: Clyde (1st Regt, Loch Winnoch), Forth (2nd Regt, Leslie), Tyne (3rd Regt, North Shields), Mersey (4th Regt, Southport), Thames (5th Regt, Shoeburyness), and Severn (6th Regt, Thornbury).

    The last Crew Agreement included within the ship’s Official Logbook for EMPIRE LAKE for 1943 should be held at Kew in piece BT 381/2461

    All gunners, MRA and RN signed the ships articles of agreement and were paid a nominal sum by the shipping company. The Crew Agreement lists the name of all members of the crew and also includes the name of the seaman or gunner’s previous ship if he had one. This is not always shown when a ship was lost though as the Official Logbook would have gone down with the ship and shore-side records were used to establish all on-board.

    D.E.M.S. gunners were usually shown on Crew Agreements as Deck Hands. The attached from the Deaths at Sea Register shows Gunner K.S. Williams on the last line.

    upload_2019-7-20_20-56-50.png

    Regards

    Hugh
     
    Last edited: Jul 20, 2019
  2. daisy1942

    daisy1942 Junior Member

    Hi timuk.

    Re Abbekerk, just before and in the months after Singapore and her involvement in the RA. do you have any further information about her movements and contacts with RA? Where did she go post the Fall of Singapore? I believe she might have departed Batavia or Tilatchap for India, South Africa and the West Indies. Did she meet with any damaged or torpedoed ships? Are there surviving crew lists or details of survivors she might have picked up?

    I have a wild suspicion that this is the ship that my FIL might have travelled on from Tilatchap/Australia to Trinidad. Something of a "left field" thread in my search for Dad but you never know!

    Daisy
     
  3. CL1

    CL1 116th LAA and 92nd (Loyals) LAA,Royal Artillery

    Have you applied for the service records yet?
     
  4. daisy1942

    daisy1942 Junior Member

    Kentigern House say anything up to a year for results! Just because I still do not have his service records does not mean I need to stop researching other potential avenues to fill the gaps!
     
    Last edited: Nov 20, 2021
  5. Hugh MacLean

    Hugh MacLean Senior Member

    Daisy,
    Have a look here - take your time with it if you haven't already been there. UK and Dutch movement cards are on there and quite a lot of detail about the ship.
    ms Abbekerk

    Regards
    Hugh
     
    daisy1942 and CL1 like this.
  6. timuk

    timuk Well-Known Member

    Daisy,

    ms Abbekerk
    In particular, work through 'The last voyage week by week'.

    Tim
     
    daisy1942 and CL1 like this.
  7. daisy1942

    daisy1942 Junior Member

    Hi Hugh & Tim,

    Thanks for that, I think it will prove interesting reading. On a very brief look shows some promising timings. Although the information I have at present is VERY thin, Abbekerk was at Emmerhaven around the same time as the Duymaer Van Twist and at Titlatchap with Zaandam. Further Abbekerk arrived Freemantle just a day or so before Zaandam.
    The men that escaped with Dad were on board Duymaer Van Twist and arrived in Fremantle on board Zaandam ex Titalchap. The voyage record card for Abbekerk shows her arriving in Trinidad on July - slightly earlier than fits the little we know of Dad's arrval.

    Interestingly, we have a photograph of Dad with a man who, we think Dad said was Norweigan and he died during the war. We are fairly certain the picture was taken either in the West Indies or USA. I wonder if anyone can identify the uniform on the left?

    [​IMG] upload_2021-11-20_21-28-19.jpeg
     

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