13 Aug 2010

Minelaying

From Afternoons, 2:10 pm on 13 August 2010

On Wednesday we told about the New Zealand Navy's search for unexploaded mines near the entrance to Lyttleton Harbour. The mines were left by a German minelayer in 1941. The Adjutant slipped into Lyttleton and then made it's way to the entrance of Wellington Harbour to lay 10 more mines. Official records kept at the time indicate that no one saw the Adjutant making mischief on that moonless night in June 1941. One of our listeners tells a different story. Maritime historian Bob McDougall says a former New Zealand Army artillery officer told him about what really happened on the night of 25 June 1941.