ONE SURVIVOR

Evening Post, Volume CXXXV, Issue 151, 28 June 1943, Page 4

ONE SURVIVOR

LOSS OF NEPTUNE

PRISONER IN ITALY O.C. CHRISTCHURCH, This Day ' The nexi-of-kin -of New Zealand naval personnel reported missing when the cruiser Neptune was lost in -the Mediterranean in December. 1941, have now been informed by the .Navy! Office that only one man is known to have survived -the ainking. More than half the Neptune's crew were New Zealanders, and for 'a considerable time after their deaths had been presumed officially some relatives believed that there were.survivors. I This belief was based on, a statement by • the enemy that some of the crew had been picked up and were prisoners of war, which' was contained in the official Admiralty communique released by the Prime Minister on January 3 last year. k. : .In July, next-of-kin were informed that it was presumed that the deaths of all missing New Zealand personnel had occurred on December 19, 1941. but for some time the Red Cross Society received inquiries as to whether' members of the Neptune's crew were prisoners of war.*.' Now, the Navy Office has given information received from the High Commissioner for New Zealand in London, Mr.. W. J. Jordan, which states that the only survivor is a prisoner of war in; Italian hands. According to information received from this rating, the Neptune struck a mine during the night of December 18,1941, and sank in about, ten minutes. A small -parts', including the commanding officer, was adrift on a x-aft for five days before the only survivor 'was picked up by an Italian warship. Other members of the party-are stated to have died .on the raft. In view of this report, and the absence of. news of further survivors, the Admiralty sanctioned on June 5, 1942, the presumption of death of .all missing personnel. The Neptune was, one. of the five ships of the Leander class of cruisers, and was of 7175 tons, was armed with eight 6in guns, "and carried a complement of 550.' ; . ■ !