H.M.S. RAMILLIES

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVIII, Issue 55, 2 September 1944, Page 9

H.M.S. RAMILLIES

HER MAORI PIU-PWJ

WORN ON D DAY

When H.M.S. Ramillies visited Wellington in. December, 1939, as one of the escorts of" the ships which carried the First Echelon, Second New Zealand "Expeditionary Force, to the Middle East, her captain was presented by. the members of the Ngati-Poneke Club with a Maori p;u T pin, or flax kilt A which he. was enjoined to wear whenever the ship went into'action. The piu-.piu; a 'greatly; treasured, possession, of the Rainillies, has been so worn several times since 1939, the most recent occasion being on June.6 (D Day) and succeeding days when this battleship, among others, supported the landing operations on the coast of Normandy by shelling eneniy p.atteries. and other positions. " ' . . - In a letter- telling of his experiences, in that' operation, a' 'New "Zealand officer who is serving . in1- H.M.S. RamiUes wrote: "I had. qccasiori to see the captain. He was 'wearing' the Maori skirt. I: do not advertise" that I am from New Zealand, but I always feel a "happy little' association witji tfte' ship and home at moments such''as these. Before we started the captain spoke over the ship's broadcasting system. He "began: 'The die is cast . . .' and ended, 'Remember as we join battle that I shall be wearing the Ramillies Skirt.'" The piu-piu has been described as something "more precious than gold" to, the ship's company of H.M.S. Ramillies. It is held in the special custody of the ship's captain, who must take it on to the bridge and wear it in action. The ship's song says: la Wellington this ship vyas blessed with Maoris' . full tradition, A skirt of grass was glren her to guard her on her mission. lln action and in battle's sway this ship shall have no hurt, Provided that the captain wears this gift, this Maori skirt. • HALSEY AND THE NEW ZEALAND. Thus the Ramillies is carrying on in the Royal Navy: the Maori tradition established, by H.M.S. New Zealand during the war of 1914-18. ■ When the flatter ship visited the Dominion in the course of her. world cruise in 1913, the Maoris assembled *at .Rotdrua, presented Captain Lionel Halsey with a piu-piu and a greenstone tiki with the injunction that they were always to be worn by the captain of the. New Zea-land-when in. action. .•'■•■.. With the gift was made a prophecy by an old Maori chieftain that the ship would be in action and be hit in three 'places including the after turret, but 1 that the casualties would not be serious. At Jutland the ship was hit only on the after turret and there were no casualties. The Maori chieftain was told that his prophecy might come true but that it was of no personal, interest to the officers and men then in the ship as she was due to pay off in September, 1914, and a completely new company would join the New Zealand? But the old Maori was emphatic that it was the same officers and men who would be in the ship in action, and he proved to be right, for the outbreak of war prevented the ship's paying off and many of those serving in her m 1913 were still in her at Jutland and later. . The New Zealand's piu-piu and tiki were worn in action by Captain Halsey at Heligoland Bight on August 28, 1914, and Dogger Bank, January 24, 1915, and by Captain J. F. E. Green at Jutland, May 31, 1916. More than a year later, on the last occasion that the New Zealand sighted enemy ships during the war, on November 17, 1917, there was an amusing example of the seamen's faith in the ship's mascots. "HE'S GOT IT ON." "Early in the morning some German light cruisers were sighted and engaged by our light cruisers and in the New Zealand we went to action stations/ wrote an officer. "The Admiral, the Captain (now Captain R. Webb), and myself were all on the upper bridge when I saw a sailor come up the ladder, peep round the corner, and then disappear. 'It's all right, he's got it on,' I heard him tell several men on the lower bridge, from which I understood that he was a scout sent out when there was a possibility of an action to make sure that the Captain actually was wearing the piu-piu and the tiki." At least one ship of the Royal New Zealand Navy carries Maori mascots. This is H.M.N.Z.S. Tui, whose commanding officer is the custodian of a Kowowai mat presented by Maoris of the Waikato and a 400-year-old tiki loaned by the Arawas. These have been worn by him orr several occasions in the South Pacific during the last two years.