War service correspondence (WW2)

• Reference:GB 248 UGC 199/3/8/1
• Dates of Creation:1939-1947
• Physical Description:
  64 files.

• Scope and Content

  • Requisitioned and managed ships correspondence files, 1939-1947;
  • Reports from Masters and crew of lost or damaged ships, 1940-1945;
  • Crew changes correspondence, 1942-1943;
  • Naval message from Benalbanach following torpedo attack and notification of capture of Bennevis by Japan, 1942-1943;
  • Ministry of Pensions correspondence, 1942-1945;
  • Pension award notices, 1943-1945;
  • Correspondence received from the Admiralty, 1943-1945;
  • Crew changes correspondence, 1944-1945;
  • Prisoner of war correspondence, 1945.

• Administrative / Biographical History

  During the Second World War, The Ben Line managed 13 ships for the British Government:

  • Empire Dee, 1945-1946;
  • Empire MacAlpine, 1943-1946;
  • Empire MacKendrick, 1944-1946;
  • Empire Protector, 1940-1941;
  • Fort Babine, 1942-1943;
  • Fort Louisbourg, 1942-1947;
  • Fort Qu'Appelle, 1942;
  • Ocean Valentine later renamed Benlomond V, 1942-1946;
  • Samaffric, later renamed Benvrackie IV, 1944-1947;
  • Samdauntless, later renamed Bendoran III, 1944-1947;
  • Sammont later renamed Benmhor V, 1943-1947;
  • Samvard, later renamed Ammla and then Benarty IV, 1943-1947;
  • Samvern, 1943-1945.

  Most of the Ben fleet were requisitioned under the liner requisition scheme during this period. In total, 14 Ben Line ships were lost during the war, and in such cases reports from Masters and crew of the lost ships were filed, and the process of contacting next of kin began. This process also dealt with pension awards to be made to crew or next of kin. When crew were captured as prisoners of war, correspondence from organisations such as the Red Cross informed Ben Line's head office in Edinburgh of the whereabouts and fate of the crew.

• Arrangement

  Arranged chronologically within record subfonds.