Royal Naval commandeering of merchant ships

[oak]

I would be very grateful if anyone could tell me the proceedures followed when the Royal Navy commandeered a merchant ship for naval operational purposes. My query does not refer to instances of the admiralty requisitioning merchant ships for troop transport. When this happened I believe that the crew were given an option of staying with their ship and most of them did so.

I am trying to find out exactly how the SS River Clyde was taken over by the RN and used in the assault on V Beach. One book mentions that some of her crew stayed with her, but unfortunately it doesn't give the source of the information. The book gives the rank/roles of the men who stayed with the ship, but not their names. The book also says that Unwin brought a few RN men with him to man the ship.

What would have happened to the rest of the crew? I know that the company who owned the River Clyde only had one other ship, so it's unlikely they were transferred to it.

If anyone can help through their knowledge of similar operations, I'd be very grateful.

Kind regards,

Philip