A sad dedication at our Garden Island naval base

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In front of the museum at Western Australia’s naval base is the life-boat shown in the photo. The lifeboat belonged to Westralia II that I wrote about a day or two ago and there is an interesting story as to how it is where it is. Prince William and his wife (please read the other post if you don’t know what I’m talking about) were having lunch in the Swan Valley and noticed a boat at the back of the property. They walked down to it and were about to walk away again when the wife noticed a registration plate on it. On investigation, they discovered it was once part of HMAS Westralia II and part of Australia’s naval history. They were able to rescue the boat and return it to the naval base where it was restored and put on display. The notice at the front dedicates the boat to four crew who, in 1998, lost their lives in a major fire in the tanker's main machinery space.