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Author Topic: Anybody heard of a RN Merchant ship HELVETIA  (Read 1571 times)

Offline shaun

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Anybody heard of a RN Merchant ship HELVETIA
« on: Monday 20 March 17 10:31 GMT (UK) »
Hello,

My grandad Lawrence John Bundock was a DEMS gunner in WW2. I have his service records which I am aware only list the accounting base that took care of his pay.

I did however find an envelope addressed to his wife and the send address M/V HELVETIA DU

I thought this may be the ship he served on, making the assumption 'M/V' stands for Merchant Vessal. But I am not sure. I can't find anything about a ww2 merchant ship named HELVETIA so wondered if anybody else had?

The postage stamp said Cornwall and was dated 1944.

thank you

Shaun ???

Offline MaxD

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Re: Anybody heard of a RN Merchant ship HELVETIA
« Reply #1 on: Monday 20 March 17 10:38 GMT (UK) »
I am Zoe Northeast, granddaughter of Maximilian Double.
 
It is with great difficulty I share with you that in the early hours of 07 August 2021, Maximilian passed away unexpectedly but peacefully.

With deep sadness,
Zoe



Double  Essex/Suffolk
Randle/Millington Warwicks
Sokser/Klingler Austria/Croatia

Offline seaweed

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Re: Anybody heard of a RN Merchant ship HELVETIA
« Reply #2 on: Monday 20 March 17 11:14 GMT (UK) »
There were two vessels around with the Name HELVETIA, both of 250 grt. Without doubt the one you are looking for is the Dutch registered vessel. I note your grandad was a DEMS gunner. DEMS are always difficult to research but Max has given you a start. I have asked poster HMac to get involved  with this thread. No better man regarding searching for DEMS. For legal reasons. Grandad will be noted on the Crew Agreement as a deck hand and paid a nominal wage of 1 shilling.
MV = Motor Vessel. DU = Dutch
http://www.plimsollshipdata.org/ship.php?ship_id=12490&name=Helvetia
Dim ateb yn well nag ateb anghywir. Nid oes dim yn ddall fel rhai nad ydynt yn dymuno gweld

RIP Roger 10 August 2022

Offline MaxD

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Re: Anybody heard of a RN Merchant ship HELVETIA
« Reply #3 on: Monday 20 March 17 11:47 GMT (UK) »
Seaweed - always a relief to know the expert has happened along! ;D

maxD

I am Zoe Northeast, granddaughter of Maximilian Double.
 
It is with great difficulty I share with you that in the early hours of 07 August 2021, Maximilian passed away unexpectedly but peacefully.

With deep sadness,
Zoe



Double  Essex/Suffolk
Randle/Millington Warwicks
Sokser/Klingler Austria/Croatia

Offline shaun

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Re: Anybody heard of a RN Merchant ship HELVETIA
« Reply #4 on: Monday 20 March 17 11:49 GMT (UK) »
Thankyou both for your replies.

Wow thats great to know that it was a ship after all. I will now start to see if I can get hold of crew lists.

On the link you sent me Seaweed, when I look at the separate PDF files for the different registry years, the 'Official number' changes from year to year. Would you be able to shed a bit of light on this maybe? Is the official number not used to identify a particular ship?

And also thankyou very mush for solving my abbreviation woes  :D

Shaun

Offline shaun

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Re: Anybody heard of a RN Merchant ship HELVETIA
« Reply #5 on: Monday 20 March 17 12:22 GMT (UK) »
As long as I'm looking at the right ship ive just read that HELVETIA was involved and took part in 'operation Neptune' wow.

Offline seaweed

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Re: Anybody heard of a RN Merchant ship HELVETIA
« Reply #6 on: Monday 20 March 17 12:38 GMT (UK) »
Only British and Empire ships had an official number so being Dutch registered HELVETIA will not have an O/N. Most of the vessels on that page were foreign registered so would not have a O/N.
Lloyd's Register is a little misleading in this respect. The bold numerals in the left hand column are the number in book/volume. The smaller numerals below these are  the official number. The letters below that are the ships radio call signal.
If you look at the other "HELVETIA" The Grimsby registered one, you will see in small numerals the number 139934. As a British ship, that would be her official number. The official number, is unique to that vessel, it would not matter if she was sold and renamed several times the O/N remained the same as long as she remained on the British register. If she was sold foreign she would loose the O/N but if she was sold back to British interests her old O/N would be resumed.
Dim ateb yn well nag ateb anghywir. Nid oes dim yn ddall fel rhai nad ydynt yn dymuno gweld

RIP Roger 10 August 2022

Offline shaun

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Re: Anybody heard of a RN Merchant ship HELVETIA
« Reply #7 on: Monday 20 March 17 12:57 GMT (UK) »
Ahhh yes I see now.

The fact that The envelope I had was stamped at Cornwall could also make sense if HELVETIA was involved with helping transporting supplies during invasion of Normandy maybe.

Offline shaun

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Re: Anybody heard of a RN Merchant ship HELVETIA
« Reply #8 on: Monday 20 March 17 14:13 GMT (UK) »
What do you think will be the best approach to getting a crew list of Helvetia from 1944 if it was a Dutch ship.

Would the national archives have these?
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