Britain's WW2 government acknowledged Merchant Navy sacrifice

As you will know, this year marks the 80th anniversary of VE Day. I enclose a copy of a transmission, sent by telegraphy in May 1945, from the Admiralty to 'all ships', expressing the victory message to the Merchant Navy, from the minister of war transport.

I would kindly ask if you would consider publishing it in an appropriate edition of the Nautilus International Telegraph.

Karen Cartmell

Radio message sent on 9 May 1945, from Admiralty to all ships:

Lord Leathers, Minister of War Transport, has issued the following message to all officers and men of the Merchant Navy:

'For more than 5 ½ years, side by side with the Allied Merchant Navies, in the face of continual and merciless attacks by the enemy, you have maintained the ceaseless flow of sea traffic on which the life and strength of this country depend. All who have borne this strain of the grim struggle have a full share in the Victory of the Allied Forces and a full share too in the Nation's thanks.

'In this historic hour, we think with special gratitude of the many merchant seamen who have fallen in the fight and whose service and sacrifice will always be a proud memory. The knowledge of their sacrifice and the thought of comrades still held captive in the Far East will spur us to further efforts as we turn to the immediate tasks of enabling the Allied Forces to transfer the main weight of their attack from Germany to Japan. I am confident that the Marchant Navy will continue to play its indispensable part.

'The Board of Admiralty has also asked me to express on their behalf, and on behalf of the Royal Navy, their admiration for the great contribution made by the Merchant Navy to the common Victory through all the perils and rigours of more than 5 ½ years of war at sea.'