Why do the names of merchant ships appear in inverted commas on CWGC gravestones?

[rolt968]

Why do the names of mecrhant ships appear in inverted commas on CWGC gravestones while the names of HM ships do not?

 

I noticed this some time ago and have been trying to see how general it is since. In my limited experience it si true for WW2 Merchant Navy graves and  a WW1 DEMS (DAMS?) gunner.

 

I have subsequently also wondered why the grave of the gunner does not carry the name of the "ship" on whose books he was carried.

RM

[horatio2]

1 minute ago, rolt968 said:

I have subsequently also wondered why the grave of the gunner does not carry the name of the "ship" on whose books he was carried.

The name of a man's pay office (PRESIDENT III, an obscure London office, in the case of WW1 DAMS) is of vanishingly small importance compared with the name of the ship in which he lost his life.

[rolt968]

7 minutes ago, horatio2 said:

The name of a man's pay office (PRESIDENT III, an obscure London office, in the case of WW1 DAMS) is of vanishingly small importance compared with the name of the ship in which he lost his life.

Thank you.

 

That does make sense. I had noticed that in the same cemetery there is a casualty from a motor launch whose garvestone has "HMML ...." rather than the depot ship.

 

Do you know the reason for the inverted commas around merchant ship names?

RM

[horatio2]

5 minutes ago, rolt968 said:

Do you know the reason for the inverted commas around merchant ship names?

No idea. Someone decided that that would be the format to follow in CWGC records.