William Wyness SKINNER - Merchant Marine

[liesl]

I have a William Wyness Skinner 1886-1956 Inverurie Scotland who was an Engineer in the Merchant Marine.

Could someone please explain what the Merchant Marine was and how I may get any records relating to his service?

Edited: Also called Mercantile Marine??

Thanks

Liesl

[Geoffers]

I have a William Wyness Skinner 1886-1956 Inverurie Scotland who was an Engineer in the Merchant Marine.

Could someone please explain what the Merchant Marine

The Merchant Navy

was and how I may get any records relating to his service?

I cannot see any mention of him in the seamen's pouches indexed on TNA's catalogue, or in the WW2 medals issued to merchant seamen, so that discards the simplest means of finding any information.

Have a look through the TNA research guides, click on the links prefixed 'Merchant Seamen'

What you may find depends on when he was in the Merchant Navy, accessing records from Australia will not be easy.