The British Merchant Navy is the collective name given to British civilian ships and their associated crews, including officers and ratings. In the UK, it is simply referred to as the Merchant Navy or MN. Merchant Navy vessels fly the Red Ensign and the ships and crew are regulated by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA), a specialist agency of the UK Department of Transport. British merchant ships are registered under the UK or Red Ensign group ship registries. British Merchant Navy deck officers and ratings are certificated and trained according to STCW Convention and the syllabus of the Merchant Navy Training Board in maritime colleges and other training institutes around the UK.
Badge of the Merchant Navy
The crew of HMS Castle Harbour, assigned to the Royal Naval Dockyard as the Examination Service vessel (that inspected merchant ships). Crew members included members of the Merchant Navy. HMS Castle Harbour would later be sunk by a German submarine while being delivered to the Mediterranean by a Merchant Navy crew
Second World War poster highlighting wartime dangers that the Merchant Navy faced
An example of Merchant Navy officers, graduating at their 'passing out' ceremony from Warsash Maritime Academy in Southampton, with former First Sea Lord Alan West, Baron West of Spithead, in 2011.
Boatswain
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A boatswain, bo's'n, bos'n, or bosun, also known as a deck boss, or a qualified member of the deck department, is the most senior rate of the deck department and is responsible for the components of a ship's hull. The boatswain supervises the other members of the ship's deck department, and typically is not a watchstander, except on vessels with small crews. Additional duties vary depending upon ship, crew, and circumstances.
The boatswain aboard a US merchant ship stands cargo watch as freight is lowered into an open hatch, c.1981
Boatswain of the Royal Navy, c. 1820
Boatswain of Felix von Luckner's yacht Seeteufel, smoking a pipe and hosing the vessel's deck