A SPECIAL flag is set to be raised to raise awareness of the UK's reliance on the Merchant Navy.

Sedgemoor District Council will be raising the Red Ensign tomorrow (September 3) to remember the sacrifices seafarers have made and to support their future.

The work of the Merchant Service during World War One led King George V to decree in 1928 that they should be known as the ‘Merchant Navy’.

By the end of the Second World War more than 4,700 British ships had been sunk and more than 35,000 Merchant seamen had lost their lives.

Merchant Navy Day honours the brave men and women who kept Great Britain going during both World Wars and celebrates our dependence on modern day merchant seafarers who are responsible for 95 per cent of the UK's imports, including much of the food we eat, most of the fuel we burn and virtually all the products and goods we take for granted.

This year Seafarers UK campaigned for the Red Ensign - the UK Merchant Navy's official flag - to be flown on Sunday, September 3 on civic buildings and landmark flagpoles across the UK.