First World War (1914-1918)
The Merchant Navy

From 1914 to 1918, Canadian and Allied merchant ships and mariners transported personnel, munitions, weapons, and food to Great Britain and Europe as part of the Allied war effort. German U-Boats (submarines) and mines claimed tens of thousands of Allied lives and thousands of ships.

Thomas Moore, Postwar

This postwar portrait of Thomas Moore, which he signed in 1929, shows him in Merchant Navy uniform.

Moore served as a junior officer in Britain's Merchant Navy during the First World War. Like many merchant mariners, Moore faced danger from German submarines and mines. He survived the sinking of SS Lord Derby by German U-Boat U-105 on 27 December 1917, and serious damage to another ship, the SS Ariadne Christine, which hit a mine in September 1918. On Moore's left sleeve is a torpedo-shaped badge, signifying that Moore served on a ship that was sunk or damaged by a torpedo or mine, and had continued to go to sea. The thin stripe below it signifies a second award of this badge.

George Metcalf Archival Collection
CWM 19810448-053