MERCHANT seamen from Newport who died during the First World War are remembered on a new memorial at the city’s Mission to Seafarers headquarters.

Plaques commemorating more than 120 people from the city who died serving in what was then the British Mercantile Marine - later the Merchant Navy - were unveiled at a dedication service.

Seamen of all ranks, from captains to cooks, trimmers to donkey men, are named on the memorial.

All played key roles in operating and maintaining vessels vital to helping supply Britain and its war effort during 1914-18.

“We remember our Second World War dead but we didn’t have a memorial for those from the First World War, until now,” said Alan Speight, chairman of the Newport branch of the Merchant Navy Association (MNA).

“It’s important, because the First World War is considered a trench war - understandably, because millions died in the trenches - so the British Mercantile Marine, as it was known then, gets a bit forgotten.

“The merchant fleet was vital to the war effort. One admiral said in 1917 that if we kept losing so many merchant vessels, the war would be lost in a week.”

At least 13,000 British merchant seamen died and almost eight million tonnes of shipping was lost.

Almost half of those lives and that shipping were lost in 1917 alone as the German U-boat threat increased, triggering the development of the convoy system for merchant vessels.

Mayor of Newport councillor Malcolm Linton unveiled the plaques, at the Mission’s Flying Angel centre, at Alexandra Dock Gate.

He said members of the Newport branch of the MNA, “should be proud, of yourselves and of the time and effort you put in.”