“It is no exaggeration to say that the Merchant Navy has been the axis round which the war effort of the United Nations has revolved."¹

Since late 2021, the Online Cenotaph team has been working diligently with the aid of volunteers and transcribers, to acknowledge the service of the Merchant Navy, aptly dubbed the “Fourth Force” of World War II. The contributions of these New Zealand seamen and women have long been underrepresented in the dominant narratives of World War II as their stories have not been often included in either military or social histories. Unlike the service of those in the armed forces, these individuals were essentially civilian workers whose profession took them far from the shores of their varied homelands all the way to the front lines. The stories of these seamen and women demonstrate the breadth of experience in World War II and reiterate the truly global nature of this conflict as it spanned generations, nationalities, and identities.

Despite their civilian status, safety was not guaranteed for these individuals and at least 120 New Zealand Merchant Navy seamen and women are known to have lost their lives during World War II, though the true total is likely much higher. Some of these casualties are striking as the Merchant Navy did not have the same regulations around age requirements as military forces, resulting in the deaths of seamen and women who were as young as 15 and as old as 65.⁵ In 1941, a quarter of the people on British ships were aged 21 or under, while labour shortages encouraged many older seafarers to stay in the industry or to come out of retirement.⁶ The inter-generational nature of this service, and the fact it extended far beyond the parameters of wartime, meant that for many seamen this was a family trade. The stories of some of these families are outlined below.

The Mokomoko family

Albert Mokomoko’s index card records an impressive 33 embarkations between 1941 and 1948, during which time he moved up the ranks from Able Seamen to Mate and worked across 12 vessels. However, this card only captures a brief snapshot of his time at sea as Albert went on to become one of the very few Māori men to Master a merchant ship. Indeed, an article from the 16 April 1944 issue of the Timaru Herald claims that he was “the first full-blooded Māori” to obtain a master mariner’s home trade certificate by examination.⁷

Captain Mokomoko was born 12 May 1917 in Opotiki to a family that whakapapa to the Whakatōhea iwi and were well known in the community for their knowledge of the sea. His father, Albert Mokomoko, worked as a pilot at the port of Opotiki and it likely felt as though Captain Mokomoko was destined for the seas. Captain Mokomoko started his sailing career in 1935, working for two years on inter-colonial vessels including the 35-ton auxiliary scow Kaiaia which sunk near Mercury Bay in 1936 due to inadequate machinery. Captain Mokomoko was an ordinary seaman at the time, and one of only four crew who worked alongside the ship’s Captain. The incident prompted Master Mariner and marine surveyor Mr Walsh to state that “if nothing is done to protect the men sailing in these scows there will be some terrible disasters."⁸ This incident served as a testament to the poor working conditions of many of these vessels. The lifestyle of these seafarers did not improve when war broke out, as their ships were pushed into more treacherous territories and their crew were limited to war rations.

It was under these difficult conditions that Captain Mokomoko obtained his mate’s ticket, working for most of World War II on the vessel Hokianga. In 1940 he married his wife, Christina Garvie, and they went on to have two children, Albie and Sharron. Captain Mokomoko remained connected to the high seas long after the conclusion of World War II and, on 12 March 1966, he died at sea while Master of Holmlea.

The Mokomoko family’s connection to the naval industry extended far beyond just Captain Mokomoko. Albert had five brothers, all of whom made their livelihood from the sea, and two of them also served in the Merchant Navy. One was recorded in the index cards as Mati Mokomoko, though his real name was Mate Mokomoko. This was only one of the many spelling errors common within these records, particularly affecting Māori seamen and women who were often misidentified or had anglicised names.

During the war Mate Mokomoko was arrested and tried in Opotiki for the offence of indecent language and was fined £1. His trade was listed as labourer and seaman and he was described as 5 foot 3 with several distinguishing features. These included three missing fingers on his left hand, likely the result of his profession, and tattoos of an anchor and a ship on his chest.⁹ It was two years later, in 1942, that the index cards record his first engagement as a member of the Merchant Navy on the vessel Ronaki. Mokomoko served as an Able Seaman for the entire duration of his service, embarking 11 times before leaving the trade in 1946. 

Another brother, recorded as Tony Mokopoko [sic], has proven impossible to trace, though his index card reports that he was born 17 May 1921 and embarked 23 times between 1941 and 1945. His service overlapped with his brother, Albert, when they both served on Hokianga during May 1942. With no identifiable birth, death, or cemetery records, Tony joins the large number of seamen and women who, due to the international and transient nature of the Merchant Navy trade, have largely disappeared from the written historical record.

The Doile family

The family nature of service in the Merchant Navy even brought some women into the industry, though they remained in the minority. Those who did work on the ships sometimes served alongside their fathers, sons, or other male relatives who may have contributed to their interest in the profession. One such case was Annie Doile, a Stewardess, and her son John Lionel William Doile, who both recorded 10 embarkations. According to their index cards, they lived together at 84 Overtoun Terrace, Wellington and worked in similar roles, though they never served alongside each other on the same vessels. 

Annie lived in the Wellington region, raising John alone until the outbreak of World War II when both embarked on their first ships in May 1941. John was born in 1921, making him only 20 when he embarked upon Arahura as a Pantryman. Throughout his 10 embarkations he climbed the ranks to Assistant Steward and served across five different ships. While John was far from the youngest individual who served in the Merchant Navy, the experience of Apprentice John Gregson, who joined when he was only 16, would no doubt have resonated: “I suppose because of the war I was never a teenager in the modern way… [Being] brought up during the war you didn’t think about it much. You just learnt to live with it. All through the war at sea you knew you were a target, you knew you could be torpedoed at any time, day or night, because you couldn’t see the submarines. You didn’t dwell on it, but you were aware all the time.”¹⁰

This clearly defined moral compass is what made it possible for women and LGBTQ+ people to carve a space for themselves in the industry despite the harshness of life at sea. The camaraderie of the profession forged connections between diverse people from a variety of identities and backgrounds. In fact, it was during her time with the Merchant Navy that Annie had met her second husband, Liverpool born Arthur Stanley Cansdale, a fellow seaman who had been previously divorced on the grounds of adultery. They married in 1943 and the pair lived together at 34 Beth Street in Wellington after the end of the war. John also resided in Wellington after marrying his wife Eileen Helen McErlain in 1944, and he continued in the seafaring trade, working as a watersider responsible for the loading and unloading of ships before dying in 1991. Annie, then Annie Cansdale, died 20 December 1965 and was buried at Akatarawa Cemetery in Wellington.

You can explore the records of the over 2,500 Merchant Navy seamen we already have in Online Cenotaph here. This includes other accomplished women such as Dorothy Caroline Oram and Margaret Gosney. There are also records of seamen from across the world, demonstrating the international breadth of the profession. Tupuai Aukino lists his birthplace as both Tahiti and Rarotonga while Arnor J. Fagerholm and Herman Eronen are both from Finland. We look forward to adding many more records, platforming the stories of the other individuals who travelled far from their homelands in pursuit of life at sea.

Thank you

As I near finishing the quality control for the remaining index cards, I wish to extend my thanks to all those who have contributed to and supported the project over its many years. This includes previous Online Cenotaph technician Dan Millar, transcribers Aleisha Ward and Hebe Kearney, alongside many Visitor Hosts and Volunteers who have been responsible for scanning, transcribing, and quality checking the 11,000 index cards in the Records of New Zealand Seamen, sourced from Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga. More information about the planning and early transcription efforts of the team can be found in Madison Pine’s article Records of the Fourth Force.

Ngā mihi nunui to the C&L Gregory Charitable Trust for supporting this project. With their assistance the team were able to complete 3,054 of the 11,000 index cards. We acknowledge the significant investment of time and expertise that transcription projects require, which would not be possible without support.