I THANK the town councils of Thame and Witney for flying the Red Ensign this year on Merchant Navy Day, September 3.

My father served in the Merchant Navy 1938–83. He survived his oil tanker being set ablaze and sunk by two torpedoes in 1942.

In both World Wars most UK merchant ships were slow and their weapons were few.

UK civilian seafarers suffered a casualty rate higher than that of any of our armed services.

On UK merchant ships nearly 15,000 seafarers were killed in the First World War and 24,000 in the Second. Two monuments at Tower Hill in London commemorate them, but until this century they were given little other remembrance – even on Remembrance Sunday.

More recently, in 1982 Argentinian Navy aircraft sank the container ship Atlantic Conveyor killing 12 of her crew, including her Master. Peacetime per cent of its imports and exports.

In 2000, King George’s Fund for Sailors, with Royal consent, made September 3 Merchant Navy Day to commemorate seafarers who have served the UK in peace or war. In Oxfordshire, far from the sea, we should remember how much we depend on seafarers.

British merchant ships have flown the Red Ensign since 1707. Some 600 councils and other bodies now fly it each year on Merchant Navy Day.

I ask Oxfordshire County Council, Oxford City Council      and every district and town council to join them on      September 3, 2018.

HUGH JAEGER

Park Close, Oxford