Merchant Navy Day commemorated

Dur­ing the Second World War, thou­sands of New Zea­l­and sea­farers volun­teered to serve in the Mer­chant Navy

They sailed ship­ments of fuel, food and oth­er essen­tial sup­plies across the world, and delivered troops and mil­it­ary equip­ment where they were needed.

The work was import­ant and extremely dan­ger­ous. 4,700 Allied mer­chant ships were sunk dur­ing the con­flict, and 30,000 Allied mer­chant sea­men lost their lives.

This included New Zea­l­and ships like the Turak­ina and the Lim­er­ick, and at least 140 Kiwi mer­chant sea­farers were killed with a sim­il­ar num­ber taken pris­on­er.

The Mer­chant Navy faced great­er danger than any oth­er group of New Zea­l­and civil­ians. Their sac­ri­fice and hero­ism will be remembered forever.