The last post rang out below fluttering red ensigns as standard bearers lowered their flags at a remembrance service on Custom House Quay this morning.

The mayor of Falmouth gave a short speech as people gathered to pay tribute to the country's merchant seafarers on Merchant Navy Day, while in the background the tug Percuil saluted by shooting a jet of water into the air.

Mayor John Body told the Packet: "I'm just pleased that the merchant navy is getting the recognition it deserves.

"The Earl of Wessex called them 'the often unsung personnel of our merchant navy' but I would say the unsung heroes, because people forget in wartime they are an essential service."

Merchant Navy Day is held on September 3, marking the date in 1939 when Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain announced the start of the Second World War, and the British passenger liner SS Athenia was torpedoed with a loss of 128 lives, the first casualties of a war which saw 32,000 merchant seafarers killed.

This year more than 150 local flew the red ensign, the flag of the UK merchant navy, as part of a campaign by maritime charity Seafarers UK, supported by the Merchant Navy Association, to have the government officially recognise the day.

The charity's president, the Earl of Wessex, has said: "On this Merchant Navy Day, I very much hope you will support this campaign to remember the sacrifices, salute the courage and support the future of the often unsung personnel of our merchant navy."