Families gather to remember a day of disaster

By PHILIP ENGLISH

Eighty-year-old Wynn Denney remembers the Neptune every December 19.

The sinking of HMS Neptune was New Zealand's worst naval disaster, with the loss of 150 New Zealand crew members when the ship struck mines, rolled and sank in the Mediterranean on December 19, 1941.

Memories of the disaster are being rekindled among families and loved ones anxious that the story of the Neptune should not be forgotten.

Mr Denney cannot forget.

After being torpedoed while serving on the cruiser HMS Phoebe, he and eight other New Zealanders were drafted to the Neptune because she was supposed to be sailing for New Zealand.

"We thought that was wonderful. That was September 1941. Then early in December two of us received a draft to a naval base in Alexandria ... We got in a terrible panic because we thought we'd miss Neptune and the trip to New Zealand."

When they turned up for a course at the base they discovered it had been cancelled. They raced back to the Neptune.

"There was a Royal Marine standing on guard at the jetty and the Neptune was sailing out through the entrance to the harbour. He said: 'Sorry, boys, the last tram for Malta has just left."'

Days later she was sunk.

"You can gloss over those sorts of things easier when you are young. But I always remember all the friends I had on the Neptune and the Phoebe every December 19."

Neptune was a light cruiser which, unlike her sister New Zealand ships Achilles and Leander, remained in the British Royal Navy fleet.

But she was officially partly manned by New Zealanders.

Early on December 19, the Neptune was leading a force to intercept an enemy convoy north of Libya.

Neptune was disabled after hitting three mines. Three hours later she sank after hitting a fourth mine.

Of 765 officers and crew, 16 escaped but only one rating survived six days of thirst and exhaustion after the sinking.

Dunedin man Ross McComish lost an elder brother, Trevor, in the disaster but never knew him as he was born after his brother's death.

"As far as I can find out, the loss of the Neptune has never been officially commemorated in Auckland yet it was a tragedy that reached throughout the country," he said.

Last year, Mr McComish organised a service to mark the loss at the historic St Albans Anglican Church in Dominion Rd, after he discovered a plaque in the church in memory of another New Zealander who died while serving on the Neptune.

Yesterday, a second service was held and another will take place next year on the 60th anniversary of the Neptune's loss. Next year is also the 60th anniversary of the establishment of the Royal New Zealand Navy.

Mr McComish said he was aware of only one other commemoration of the New Zealanders, in Thames, some years ago.

"Even after all these years there has never been a sense of closure.

"My father to the end of his life still grieved ... My father hoped Trevor would turn up for a year after it happened, that he was a prisoner of war."

Leola Afford was married to able seaman Charles Cossgrove, who lost his life in the Neptune.

She did not find out about the loss until December 29, 1941, when she was told her husband was missing, presumed drowned. It was not until July, 1942 that his death was confirmed.

She said it was time the 150 New Zealanders on the Neptune were remembered.

"Every Anzac Day I put my own little wreath on the cenotaph but no one else does. It seems like the Neptune never happened."

Herald Online Marine