The Merchant Navy

More than 160 New Zealand merchant seafarers are known to have lost their lives during the Second World War. The great majority were sailing on British vessels, with almost 120 perishing in Atlantic or Mediterranean waters. Seven New Zealand-operated merchant ships were lost to enemy action, but these fortunately produced only six direct fatalities (another six died as a result of captivity). Twelve New Zealanders are known to have died while serving on Australian vessels, and 11 on American (or Panamanian) flagged ships; others were lost on Canadian, Dutch, Greek, Indian, Norwegian and Swedish ships. As well as enemy action, a number of seafarers died of illness or in accidents.

The age of some of the victims is striking. As a civilian industry, the Merchant Navy naturally contained employees who were younger or older than those in the armed forces. For centuries, seafarers had embarked on their careers when barely into their teens, typically as deck or mess boys, or as apprentices (trainee officers). At least 17 New Zealand teenagers (aged 15-19) are known to have lost their lives during the war, including Thomas Burke and Edward Walls, two 15-year-old deck boys on the Port Hunter, which was torpedoed in the Atlantic in 1942. These two teenagers (together with William Shaw, also 15, who was lost on the Aparima in 1917) were almost certainly the youngest New Zealand personnel killed by enemy action during the 20th century. In addition, at least 36 of those lost were more than 50 years old, with 11 aged in their 60s.

In captivity

Around 145 New Zealand merchant seafarers were taken prisoner. The first large group of New Zealanders to be captured during the Second World War were seamen (and passengers) from the Holmwood, Komata, Rangitane and other ships sunk by German raiders in late 1940. Around 65 New Zealand seamen from these ships were subsequently released on Emirau Island, near New Guinea, after signing an oath not to 'bear arms' against Germany for the remainder of the war. At least 21 other New Zealanders, mostly captured by German warships in the Atlantic, were interned in a special Merchant Navy camp, Milag Nord, at Westertimke, near Bremen.

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Crew from the merchant ship Hauraki

For Allied servicemen and civilians alike, captivity during the Pacific War was generally more gruelling than it was in Europe. In contrast to the Germans, Japan's treatment of captive merchant seafarers was unpredictable and often brutal. The 52 civilian officers and crew of the Hauraki made up the largest group of New Zealand personnel to fall into Japanese hands during the war. While 29 were interned with civilians in Singapore's Changi prison, the other 23 (mainly engine-room staff) were sent to Japan, where they were forced to work alongside military prisoners in a shipyard and later at a steelworks. Five died in captivity (one in Singapore and four in Japan); the subsequent death of the Hauraki's Australian master, A.W. Creese, in 1947 was also attributed to the strain of his wartime captivity.