The Government of the Cook Islands marked Merchant Navy Day in Rarotonga on Thursday, honouring the civilian seafarers who have served in war and in peace, and welcoming nineteen New Zealand veterans of the 1973 Royal New Zealand Navy deployment to Mururoa Atoll. Remarks at the ceremony were delivered by the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Immigration, Hon. Tingika Elikana, on behalf of the Government of the Cook Islands.
Merchant Navy Day is observed on 3 September, the anniversary of the sinking of the passenger ship Athenia within hours of the declaration of war in 1939, the first British merchant ship lost in the Second World War. The Cook Islands observance was established in 2014 at the initiative of the late Mervin Charles Martin, a Cook Islands merchant seaman who spent his working life in the boiler rooms of ships and who died in 2024, aged 91.
“For a people of the ocean, this is not a foreign story,” Minister Elikana said. “We are a nation of navigators. Cook Islanders have gone to sea in every capacity in which one can go to sea, in war and in peace. When we remember merchant seafarers, we are remembering our own.”
This year’s ceremony carried an additional element. Nineteen veterans of the 1973 deployment, accompanied by partners, arrived in Rarotonga on 1 September and presented two plaques, one to the Cook Islands Returned Services Association, and one to the Government and people of the Cook Islands. In 1973, New Zealand despatched the frigates Otago and Canterbury to Mururoa to bear witness in protest at French atmospheric nuclear testing. On the passage home, Canterbury was invited to call at Rarotonga by the first Premier, Sir Albert Henry, but sailed directly for New Zealand and the invitation went unanswered.
“Fifty-three years is a long time to hold an invitation open, but this is the Pacific,” Minister Elikana said. “You were welcome in 1973, and you are welcome here in the Cook Islands today. We are patient people, and we are honoured that you have come.”
The Minister linked the day to the region’s enduring commitment to a nuclear-free Pacific, and challenged attendees to ensure that the lessons of the past are not forgotten.
“Twelve years after those ships sailed, the leaders of this region gathered here in Rarotonga and signed the South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone Treaty. It is known to the world as the Treaty of Rarotonga, and it committed our region to keep nuclear weapons out of the Pacific, to refuse nuclear testing on our territories, and to keep these waters free of radioactive contamination and waste. Forty years on, it holds — and the Cook Islands remains firmly, unambiguously committed to it. This ocean is not an arena for the contests of others, and peace is something we must actively defend and build, rather than take for granted.”
The ceremony was attended by the King’s Representative Sir Tom Marsters and Lady Marsters, members of the Cook Islands Returned Services Association, veterans and their families.
“To the families of those who did not come home from the sea, and to those who came home carrying something they did not choose to carry, the Cook Islands remembers you, Auraka roa ratou kia ngaropoinaia – Lest we forget,” Minister Elikana said.
