 Mercantile Marine War Medal

The Mercantile Marine War Medal was established in 1919 and awarded by the Board of Trade of the United Kingdom to mariners of the British Mercantile Marine (later renamed the Merchant Navy) for service at sea during the First World War.Between 5 August 1914, the day following the British declaration of war against the German Empire, and the armistice of 11 November 1918, 2,479 British merchant vessels and 675 British fishing vessels were lost as a result of enemy action, with respectively 14,287 and 434 lives lost.