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Men at Work pp 101–129Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

For Those in Peril on the Sea: The Merchant Navy in Wartime Culture

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Part of the book series: Genders and Sexualities in History ((GSX))

Abstract

In September 1941 Lord Leathers, then Minister of War Transport, declared to the House of Lords:

There is no need for me to stress to your Lordships how much of our food, our military equipment and our raw materials reaches us from overseas. In addition we have to maintain large and growing forces in distant parts of the world. All this depends on the Merchant Navy. Without the determination and courage of the merchant seamen, our armed forces could not keep the field nor could our people live. It is not an easy life sailing the seas in war-time conditions of blackout and convoy, but the men of the Merchant Navy do not ask for an easy life. They do their duty without fuss or display and no words of mine can indicate the debt of gratitude which we all owe to them.1

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Notes

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Strathclyde, UK

    Linsey Robb

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  1. Linsey Robb
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© 2015 Linsey Robb

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Cite this chapter

Robb, L. (2015). For Those in Peril on the Sea: The Merchant Navy in Wartime Culture. In: Men at Work. Genders and Sexualities in History. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137527479_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137527479_5

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-349-56648-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-137-52747-9

  • eBook Packages: Palgrave History CollectionHistory (R0)

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