As the Cook Islands Returned Services (CIRSA) came together to commemorate Merchant Navy Day on Tuesday, they also paid tribute to 91-year-old sailor Mervin Charles Martin, who passed away last month.

The small but moving ceremony honouring thousands of merchant seafarers, who sacrificed their lives in World Wars I and II, and in conflicts up to the present day, contributing significantly to the history of their countries, was held at the CIRSA at 11am.

The ceremony took place shortly after the four-hour deluge of 61 millimetre of rainfall, accompanied by thunder and lightning.

Pira Wichman, president of the CIRSA, welcomed guests, inviting maritime surveillance advisor Lieutenant-Commander David Longhurst of the Royal New Zealand Navy, to address the attendees. 

“The Battle of the Atlantic was one of the most important campaigns of the Second World War. It was certainly the longest, lasting 2074 days: from 3 September, 1939, the day war was declared, to 7 May, 1945, the day Germany surrendered. Allied ships were sunk with loss of lives in the Atlantic on both those days, and on nearly every day in between,” said LTCDR Longhurst.
He said Germany’s Atlantic strategy was simple “to starve Britain into submission by destroying merchant ships and their essential cargos of food and raw materials faster than they could be replaced”.

Noting that, had Germany succeeded in severing the transatlantic lifeline, Britain would soon have been faced with a choice between starvation and surrender. Without fuel, the Royal Air Force could not have withstood the Luftwaffe, the German Air Force, nor could Britain have later become the “unsinkable aircraft carrier” from which Allied air power could strike deep into Germany.
LTCDR Longhurst said without the uninterrupted flow of troops, equipment and fuel across the Atlantic, the liberation of Western Europe could not have been achieved.
“Between 1939 and 1945, over 4500 Allied merchant  ships with a weight of over 14 million tons and 175 Allied warships were sunk, and an estimated 73,000 Allied naval and merchant sailors lost their lives. This equates to over half of the ships that existed at the start of the war.
“That is why each year, on 3^rd September and the surrounding days, in the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth countries, the maritime community marks Merchant Navy Day.
“The date marks the sinking of the first Allied merchant ship in 1939, just hours after the Second World War began.

“It’s a chance to remember fallen comrades, and also to raise awareness of merchant navy seafaring by raising the red ensign flag.”

LTCDR Longhurst said Pacific island nations, including New Zealand and the Cook Islands, understand intimately the importance of open shipping routes.

“Historically in times of war, merchant shipping has often been the first and often the primary target at sea. The Merchant navy was also critical to the supply lines in the First World War.”

Allied shipping losses in the first world war were approximately 2500 ships and 15,000 sailors.

The ceremony alsopaid tribute to 91-year-old sailor Mervin Charles Martin, who passed away earlier last month.May Beer, the daughter of Mervin Martin, her husband Don Beer and their family attended the “parade” bringing with them her father’s ashes.

Martin was born in August 1933 and raised in the South Island. He has two children, May and her brother Trevor. He passed away on August 6, 2024, in New Zealand.

“He was a bit of a rebel and was hardly ever at school,” said May. “When he was old enough, he caught a ship out of Littleton and went travelling around the world spending most of his time in a boiler room - that way he was able to see the world.”

May said six months before he died, doctors discovered he had two cancers and because of his age at 91, “he thought no, I’ll throw in the towel and just carry on until I pass...”

“I always said I would bring his ashes back. He wanted to be buried here; he loved the island.”

May said her father was a big supporter of the Merchant Navy, and would also visit Rarotonga every year for the day and turn up at the RSA “the first one to arrive and the last to leave”.

“He became a JP (Justice of the Peace), he was very full of life. We are having his wake on this day and a glass of rum …”

According to Denis Dwane, a member of the CIRSA, Martin was one of the people who initiated the observance of Merchant Navy Day around 2014.