Wednesday 6 July, 2005
The Navy will hold a ceremony at 1115 Friday 8 July 2005, at Te Taua Moana Marae to welcome home a piupiu presented as a gift in 1913 to Captain Lionel Halsey, Royal Navy, Commanding Officer of HMS NEW ZEALAND. At the time of the presentation, Captain Halsey was requested to always wear the piupiu in battle. HMS NEW ZEALAND was paid for by the people of New Zealand and took part in three major North Sea battles in World War I, including the Battle of Jutland.
The piupiu will be welcomed back to New Zealand at a short ceremony to be held at Te Taua Moana Marae in the form of a powhiri, karakia and blessing. The piupiu will then be handed over to the Naval Museum for safekeeping and subsequent display.
Invitation to the Media
The media are invited to attend the Ceremony at Te Taua Moana Marae (Ngataringa Bay end of Jim Titchener Drive, Devonport) at 1115 Friday 8 July 2005, thence to the Navy Museum (Spring St, Devonport) for the final handover.
If you wish to attend or require further details please contact Lieutenant Commander Barbara Cassin.
Background
The piupiu was gifted to Captain Lionel Halsey, RN, Commanding Officer of the battleship HMS New Zealand, during the ships visit to New Zealand in 1913. Legend has it that the Maori Chief presenting the piupiu made three prophecies. The first was that the ship would be involved in three sea battles, that the ship would be hit only once and that no one onboard would be killed. The Chief requested that Halsey wear the piupiu in battle to protect the ship and crew.
In 1914, HMS New Zealand went into action in the battle of Heligoland Bight. Halsey donned the piupiu over his uniform, and as he recalled, “Officers and men who were in the Conning Tower … were so startled at seeing me in this extraordinary clothing that they appeared to be quite incapable of carrying on with their very important personal duties and I had quickly to explain why I was thus attired”. The ship was not damaged or hit during this action.
Halsey wore the piupiu again at Dogger Bank in January 1915. Before the action he “got many messages from all over the ship hoping that the piupiu was again going to be worn”. Once more, although the ship came under heavy fire, it was never hit.
In May 1915, when Halsey was promoted and appointed to another ship, he passed the piupiu over to his successor on HMS New Zealand. He told him of the Maori Chief’s request and agreed to wear the piupiu into action, which he did during the Battle of Jutland on May 31st, 1916. Again the ship came under heavy fire but was hit only once, sustaining minor damage and no casualties. The piupiu remained onboard the ship until surrender of the German Fleet in 1918.
The piupiu was then returned to Halsey who later lent it to the New Zealand Division of the Royal Navy to be displayed in the New Zealand Centennial Exhibition in Wellington 1940. Upon his death in 1949, Halsey (by then Admiral Sir Halsey) left the piupiu to his youngest daughter Ruth. As Ruth Halsey’s wish was for the piupiu to be returned to New Zealand, after she died in April 2002, her nephew (Halsey’s grandson) John Wood, offered it to the New Zealand Navy Museum. The piupiu was returned to the Navy from the family of Captain Halsey on 4 July 2005, in London.
Photo WN 05 0176 01 shows Chief of Navy, Rear Admiral David Ledson accepting the piupiu, photos and the sword from John Wood (Captain Halsey’s grandson) in London on 4 July 2005.
ENDS
For any further details please contact Lieutenant Commander Barbara Cassin, Public Relations Manager (Navy) Phone (09) 4455002, Mobile 021 244 0638