Central
Register of Seamen 1941-1972
The Central Register of Seamen came into existence through
various strands of legislation and changing conditions. Pre war the National
Service (Armed Forces) Act of 1939 laid the basis for conscription into the armed
services. All of the relevant ages were required to register with the Ministry
of Labour under this Act. Merchant mariners, whether currently or formerly
serving, were not exempted, but would not be conscripted into the armed
services if they continued to sign onto merchantmen. It should be noted that in
the early stages the call up only affected young men between the ages of 20 to
23 though. And, according to the official history (C.B.A. Behrens: Merchant Shipping and the Demands of War)
immediately pre war slightly over 70 per cent of British merchant mariners
(excluding Lascars) were over twenty-five. So, with this in mind, the
(illogical) perception that there would not be an increased need for merchant
mariners in wartime and the natural ‘reserves’ of merchant mariners not only
from the normal casual form of recruitment for most, but also through the lean
years of under employment of the 1920s and 30s, manning was not seen as an
important issue by the then controlling wartime Ministry of Shipping.
It would appear that some of the peacetime assumptions (made by
the Marine Department of the Board of Trade and inherited by the Ministry of
Shipping) went slightly awry. Without the threat of conscription to make
mariners (other than within the ages under the National Service Acts) return to
the sea there was nothing to make them stay at sea if they did not want to. In time there was a perception
(within the civil service departments) that mariners were creeping ashore, to
better-paid and safer jobs. They were also supposedly staying at home between
voyages for longer periods than they had done in peacetime. It was also
maintained (in the official history) that all the normal ‘disciplinary’
problems associated with the inability to realistically deal with merchant mariner
defaulters, especially in relation to not joining and desertion, were magnified
in wartime through an increase in these activities - thereby affecting the
supply of manpower. And, as far as the Registrar General for Shipping and
Seamen was concerned it was even possible for the youngsters of conscription
age to leave the sea and yet not be called up through not re-registering with
the Ministry of Labour. The last was especially so, since around June 1940 the
planned mechanism for keeping tabs on those seamen of military age failed.
Interestingly, the official history did admit that the civil servants did not understand the full
complexity of the matter and in particular to the casualty rates suffered by
merchant mariners at sea. Also, it later turned out that the delays in sailing
had actually been negligible.
After the fall of France the concept of the control of manpower
became an important issue, not just for the supply to the armed forces, but
also industrially. As of the spring of 1941 a series of Essential Work Orders
was the result. The one for the merchant service was formulated later in the
year, coming into force in May 1942. Along with the relevant Registration for
Employment Order these meant inherent changes to the employment of merchant
mariners.
Under this Registration for Employment Order all (civilian) men between 18
and 60 who had served on merchant vessels any time from 1936 onwards were
required to register. (It would appear from personal research
that women working at sea were ‘encouraged’ to return to shore in 1942.)
Employment became continuous, complete with paid leave entitlement. Mariners
not on merchantmen were held in ‘the pool’, for redeployment where and when
needed. In reality in time there were a number of these pools throughout the
world and some for specific operations, such as Overlord - the Invasion of
North West Europe. While the National Maritime Board (formed in 1920 as
negotiating machinery for the industry) formulated the detail in relation to
the pool, most of the day to day administrative work was carried out by the
(owners’) Shipping Federation.
Perhaps because of the above (not bringing in the traditional
network of mercantile marine offices and other State officials abroad) there
were some faults in the system. Some mariners were not included in the system
because they had not had the opportunity to register under the Employment
Order. If on short haul trips they were taken in when they returned to the
United Kingdom. But, others who had been on ocean-going voyages and did not
return to the U.K. remained outwith the system - some late into the war.
Although these individuals sometimes had some freedoms to leave their vessels
abroad (depending on the articles signed) there was also the distinct
disadvantage - if their ships were sunk their pay was stopped, as had
overwhelmingly been the case up to then.
Post World War the Central Register of Seamen was continued. As
can be seen from surviving files, partially this was due to the continuation of
conscription into the armed forces, but also because Ministry of War Transport
officials were of the opinion that this could be used to future commercial
advantage. Unfortunately, this future would prove far from rosy for the
merchant service, but the C.R.S. continued to be compiled until 1972.