merchant marine

He decided that he would give up and return to the Merchant Marine.
Fact Vs. Fiction in ‘Inside Llewyn Davis’: The Real Story of Folk is Far Less Dejected Than the Movie|Jimmy So|December 4, 2013|DAILY BEAST
The 39 members of the merchant marine crew on board were taken captive in an act that Ford called “piracy.”
Obama's Pirate Coup|Julian Zelizer|April 13, 2009|DAILY BEAST
Her navy had already swept the daring little fleet of American frigates and American merchant marine from the seas.
The Canadian Dominion|Oscar D. Skelton
I am a sailor, not a constable—an officer of the Merchant Marine.
The Harbor Master|Theodore Goodridge Roberts

And we haven't built up a merchant marine because we've had no foreign consciousness.
The Life and Letters of Walter H. Page, Volume II|Burton J. Hendrick
It's the price we've got to pay for not having built up a merchant marine.
The Life and Letters of Walter H. Page, Volume II|Burton J. Hendrick
Thus, in the maintenance of a nation's merchant marine on the high seas, its navy exercises one of its most vital functions.
The Journal of Submarine Commander von Forstner|Georg-Gnther von Forstner

Origin of merchant marine