Is this the uniform of able seaman royal navy man 1920-1936. official photograph

[Stewart R]

Medhist

Just a quick question.  Are there any connections in your family to Italy? Whilst searching through the almost endless shipping companies I've noticed a lot of the Italian companies have used the cross of St.George in their logos and some with motifs in the upper left quadrant. La veloce, Corrado and Italian Transporti Maritimi to name but three.

Still searching

Regards

Stewart

[medhist]

None that I know of.  I imagine if he was looking for a job at sea he may have joined any shipping company.  I've noticed on crew manifests that there are men from numerous countries working on board.
What do you think of the sugggestion that it may be from a training ship or school of some kind?  I also had the thought that it was possibly from a commonwealth navy or line.  We had connections with Australia and I know he visited there at least once.  The official photo was  taken in Woodford Green, Essex.  Not that far from where the family lived.  Also not far from London ports.
Thanks for looking!

[PaulaToo]

Just added to a very old and 'mission impossible' thread on my mystery sailor, and it brought these people to mind.
I sent an email, with my sailors photo to them, and they came back with a 20 year time scoop and his rank... which was more than I had.
Perhaps they could help with your cap badge...
Don't hold your breath, they did take quite a while to answer...  but an answer did come.
http://www.royalnavalmuseum.org/

[JFarrell36]

I've cropped the photo right down to just the cap emblem and posted it on another site. I'll let you know if they come up with anything.

[JFarrell36]

Don't know if this helps but he's definitely an Officer in the Merchant Navy working for a shipping line. Apparently the 'houseflags' on his cap will reveal the actual line but is was too blurred for the guys to see.

[medhist]

Thank you for that.  I'll try the naval museum suggested and hope somebody somewhere wil recognise the badge.  Seems he must have been working at sea other than in the RN. Up to now the family only ever mentioned RN.

[Stewart R]

I have generated a bit of interest on a more nautical themed website and they believe the two flags are an amalgamation of two shipping lines the one on the left could possibly be that of "Shaw Savill" as illustrated here.

I'll keep you posted

Regards

Stewart

[medhist]

Thank you. That's great. It does look a possibility.