The Merchant Navy ships delivered troops, military equipment and vital cargoes of food, fuel and raw materials across the world's oceans. This work was so essential to the Allies' war effort that the Merchant Navy was effectively regarded as the fourth service alongside the army, navy and air force.
Most of New Zealand's Second World War POWs were captured in the European theatre in the early stages of the war. Only about 100 New Zealand servicemen fell into Japanese hands, mainly airmen or seamen attached to the Royal Navy or Royal Air Force.
An island nation half a world away from its main trading partner, New Zealand in the mid-20th century was overwhelmingly dependent on sea transport for its prosperity and security.
New Zealand's domestic shipping industry played a vital role during the war. A small tributary of the vast British shipping empire, it was largely confined to 'short-sea' (trans-Tasman, South Pacific and coastal) trades.
Although it was waged half a world away, few military campaigns were as vital to New Zealand's interests as the Battle of the Atlantic. A German victory, which would have severed this country's links with Britain, was one of the gravest threats New Zealand has ever faced.
For the Merchant Navy the cost of victory was high: between 1939 and 1945 almost 5000 Allied and neutral merchant vessels (over 21 million tons' worth) were sunk, and around 60,000 seafarers were killed – more than half of them while sailing under the red duster (red ensign) of the British Empire and Dominions.
The following roll lists the names of seafarers who died while serving on New Zealand merchant ships and New Zealanders known to have been lost while sailing under the flags of other countries (mainly Britain).
An outline of some of the key events relating to the war at sea and merchant shipping in the Second World War, with a particular focus on New Zealand involvement.
Merchant ships plough through the North Atlantic en route to Britain. The convoy system was the linchpin of the Allies' long and hard-fought victory over Germany's U-boats in the Battle of the Atlantic.
Dewi Browne was born in Wanganui in 1920 and went to sea on merchant ships in 1937. In 1944 he joined a small hospital ship, the Lady Connaught, which was sent to support the Allied landings at Normandy.
A number of New Zealand merchant seamen served off the D-Day beaches on hospital ships and other support vessels. This image, taken off Omaha Beach, shows a landing craft alongside the British hospital ship Llandovery Castle, on which New Zealander Cliff Turner served as a baker.
Surrounded by some of his crew, Captain Morgan (centre left) of the Awatea offers thanks to the master of the Dutch vessel that evacuated them from the Mediterranean after the New Zealand liner was sunk during Operation Torch in November 1942.
The German raiders' strikes against shipping in the South Pacific fuelled fears that enemy spies were operating in local ports. Posters, like this, one warned the New Zealand public that 'loose lips might sink ships'.
After spending four days in a lifeboat, seafarers from a torpedoed British merchant ship, the Mentor, about to be rescued in the Gulf of Mexico in early 1942.
Les Watson (second from left) stands with other stewards on the new Shaw Savill & Albion (SS&A) liner Ceramic (II), during its maiden voyage to New Zealand in 1948. The first Ceramic had been sunk in 1942, with heavy loss of life.
An escort carrier battles through the Arctic Sea during the winter of 1944–45. The crews of merchant ships and their escorts faced not only the danger of enemy attacks but often fierce gales and huge seas.
