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General => Armed Forces => World War Two => Topic started by: brian1937 on Thursday 04 January 18 14:32 GMT (UK)
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Hello, my grandfather served in the Merchant navy during ww2. I've obtained some records and he was discharged through ill health (the cause being covered up for privacy, I assume)
The doctor's note mentions that he was - in H.M.T 136.
Does anyone know what this stands for? I thought it may be the ship he was on but no luck, the letter is dated late Feb 1943. A trawler with that number sank 2- 3 years earlier! The letter has the union castle line company stamp on it, so i know he was on one of theres. Another paper says his last ship was Stirling castle in 1943, so I'm thinking it stands for something completely different.
Many thanks in advance. Fred
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HMT stands for His Majesty's Trawler.
There is a list of requisitioned trawlers (for WW2) here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_requisitioned_trawlers_of_the_Royal_Navy_(WWII)
But they are listed by name, rather than number.
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HMT also stands for His Majesty's Troopship/Transport and Hired Military Transport, the latter often seen with numbers making up a code for a civilian vessel in military service. As Stirling Castle was a troopship at the time and the doctor is using his Union Castle line stationery I'd suggest HMT 136 was the code for that vessel.
MaxD
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Due to the fact that STIRLING CASTLE official number 164570 was owned by Union Castle Line, I would agree with Max that this was the vessel your grandfather was on in early 1943. She sailed from New York on 10/Feb/1943 and arrived Liverpool 19/Feb/1943 returning to New York on 17/Mar/1943.
To prove he was on board STIRLING CASTLE at this time you can get hold of the vessels Crew Agreements. Available from here,
http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C11053942
You would be best served visiting Kew yourself.
Do you have your Grandfathers CRS 10 and Seaman's Pouch? If not could you give us his full name, date and place of birth.
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Hello, thank you all for your quick replies, very knowledgeable and helpful!
His full name was James Anthony Ryan, 6/3/19, Liverpool.
I have his 'Seamans pouch' (emailed)which contains quite a bit but wonder if some bits are missing and I'll have to search again. He joined in 1936 and I've traced the ships up to early 1941 but there appears to be a gap of nearly two years before the discharge in February 1943.
Thank you once again I'm thrilled with the insight of what H.M.T stands for. :) fred
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If he has a form CRS 10, which will tell you the names of the ships he served on from early 1941 until his discharge, together with dates and places of engagement and discharge.
It should be here
http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/results/r?_cr=bt382%2F1573&_dss=range&_ro=any&_st=adv
These forms are stored alphabetically in blocks of 60 names. Security is tight as details of these records may have in the past been used in identity fraud. So again, I would advise you to visit Kew yourself. Make a day of it.
I note that he did not receive medals. You can still claim them on his behalf but form CRS10 is crucial to this procedure.
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Thank you all once more and in pa :)rticular Seaweed for the latest reply. Hopefully I can track down his CRS 10 form and fill in the gaps!
And for going to the trouble of looking it up for me, thank you and fingers crossed.
I never even thought about medals, which is a touching thought as my mother is still with us, thank you so much! :) Fred