CHILD “ADOPTED” BY WARSHIP

Press, Volume LXXXIV, Issue 25550, 19 July 1948, Page 2

CHILD “ADOPTED” BY WARSHIP

LONG ASSOCIATION WITH H.M.S. DANAE More than 20 years ago the birth of a child in Hamilton coincided with the visit to Auckland of a British naval squadron, which included the light cruiser H.M.S. Danae. The child was named Danae, and to provide his daughter with a memento of her christening the father sent a copy of her birth certificate to the commander of H.M.S. Danae for his autograph. From that act a happy association sprang up, the child being “adopted” by the ship’s company. Though too young to visit the ship, Danae became closely associated with it, receiving a book about it, a.cap ribbon bearing her name and a brooch bearing the ship’s badge and motto. When old enough she wrote regularly to the ship, which did not return to New Zealand. All the correspondence between the girl and the cruiser was kept with the ship’s archives. H.M.S. Danae was lent to the Polish Navy during the recent war, and the girl, now a young woman, received a letter in English from the Polish commander. Recently Mrs D. R. Minifie, of Hamilton, formerly Miss Danae Hazard, received a letter from the Admiralty which read: “I am commanded by my Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty to inform you that they have read with much interest the correspondence extracted from the ship’s book of H.M.S. Danae in relation to your association with the ship.” The letter said the cruiser had been returned from the Polish Navy on September 28, 1946. and renamed Danae. On March 24, 1948. the ship was transferred to the ship-breakers. “My Lords desire to state that in anticipation of the possibility of the name Danae being resuscitated for a future ship of the Royal Navy arrangements nave been made for the correspondence to be placed' in the hands of the officer commanding, who may be pleased to add a new chapter to the story of this happy association,” the letter concluded.