Documents from the Mercantile Marine service of Douglas Blunt Webb (1891-1975): Certificate on leaving the cadet school ship HMS CONWAY at Liverpool, December 1907; certificate of apprenticeship with H. Hogarth & Sons, 1908; Continuous Certificate of Discharge booklet, 1914 - 1920; British Mercantile Marine Identity and Service Certificate, 1919; United States of America Alien Seaman's Identification Card issued at Newport News, 1919; Authority to Wear War Medals for the Mercantile Marine, 1919; printed letter from the Board of Trade confirming the award of the British War Medal and Mercantile Marine War Medal, 1924; postcard with a photograph of Webb and three other men at Lubeck. There is also a mounted photograph of the passenger/cargo liner OTAKI (1908) and a letter from the manager of The New Zealand Shipping Co recognizing the gallantry and good seamanship of her crew on the occasion of the attack by the German auxiliary cruiser MOEWE on 10 March 1917.

Administrative / biographical background
Webb was born at Catford in 1891. He was a cadet on the training ship HMS CONWAY at Liverpool in 1904-1907 and then an apprentice with H. Hogarth & Sons (Baron Line) of Glasgow. During the period 1914 - 1920 he was employed as bosun on the passenger/cargo liners OPAWA (1906), OTAKI (1908) and PARAROA (1899) owned by The New Zealand Shipping Co. He was on the OTAKI at the time of her sinking by the German auxiliary cruiser MOEWE on 10 March 1917.