The United States Merchant Marine is a fleet of privately owned commercial shipping vessels which, in times of war, becomes a uniformed service as a subsidiary of the United States Navy and is responsible for transporting vehicles, troops, and other materiel to and from combat zones, as well as serving in support roles. The United States Merchant Marine is often referred to as the Forgotten Service because its contribution and sacrifice is often overlooked. Indeed, former mariners were not awarded veteran status until 1988 (sixty-eight years after the service’s inception) when Ronald Reagan signed a bill into law giving them benefits to which veterans of other services had always been entitled. Justification of this omission often cites the fact that the service is comprised of civilians and only becomes “uniformed” in times of war, and also that the Merchant Marine rarely plays a direct role in combat operations; however, there is, arguably, no other single service that is more responsible for the success of the majority of U.S. military operations around the globe in the past two-hundred years than the U.S. Merchant Marines.

However, the high-tech ships of the Merchant Marine and the well-educated, professional Mariners that serve in it as it exists today are far cries from their predecessors which, painted in the worst light, were often little more than marauding bands of officially sanctioned, government licensed pirates. To find out how the service evolved into what it is today, it is necessary to know where it came from to begin with.