New exhibition to give voice to HMS Nepture sinking survivors

Caroline Williams Reporter from North Shore Times

Neptune Calling, at the National Museum of the Royal New Zealand Navy in Devonport, commemorates the 80th anniversary of the sinking on HMS Neptune off the coast of Libya in 1941.

Not long before the tragedy, which claimed the lives of 150 Kiwis, the New Zealand Broadcasting Service had helped 50 of them record greetings for their loved ones at home.

These messages have now been loaded onto vintage phones, to be heard by the public for the first time.

“We feel an enormous sense of responsibility towards these very special recordings. They are a very real, tangible link to 150 young men who never made it home," said Jane Cotty, the communications manager at the museum.

“They represent an enormous loss felt at the time throughout the nation, every city and almost every town lost young men they knew and loved. This loss is still keenly felt in many families."

The exhibition will be at the museum at 64 King Edward Parade,
Torpedo Bay for the rest of 2022. For more information, visit navymuseum.co.nz...