An outdoors person at heart, Colin was born in Wellington, moving to the West Coast in the 1970s and more recently to Marlborough. On the Coast Colin developed his craft and in 1978 became one of the few full time artists in New Zealand. As the Navy's artist he has freedom of choice of subject and while he makes use of artistic licence, he also pays considerable attention to detail. He works in a variety of media, mainly oil and acrylic, but also gouache, water colour or pastel as required by the subject, mood or location. Similarly he works both in the studio and on location. To date Colin has completed over 1,500 paintings, the subject of many is the outdoors he loves, but also many with a maritime theme, such as the painting of the fishing boat in Cook Strait, that was the catalyst for his becoming the Navy's artist. Colin's paintings are represented in private, public and corporate collections, both in New Zealand and overseas.

Described as a meteorological bomb, a severe storm struck the South Pacific in June 1994. At the time the annual Auckland to Suva yacht race was in progress, with the yachts around the half way mark. The storm caused havoc amongst the fleet, badly damaging a number of yachts and injuring some crew members. HMNZS MONOWAI, the Navy's survey ship was in the area and successfully rescued the crews off several yachts in the most difficult and dangerous conditions.

In late September 1939, soon after the outbreak of the Second World War, the New Zealand cruiser, HMS LEANDER, searched the Auckland Islands, which were possible hiding places for German merchant raiders. After spending a night in `Sarah's Bosom' on the North East end of the main island, LEANDER steamed along the eastern side of the main island in a gale, heaving-to at one stage, with visibility less than 6 nautical miles between rain squalls. Nothing suspicious was sighted and the ship returned to Wellington.

A regular task undertaken by ships of the Royal New Zealand Navy is the provision of support to scientific expeditions to the sub antarctic islands. HMNZS TARANAKI is depicted unloading stores near Sandy Bay on Enderby Island, one of the Auckland Islands, to the south east of Stewart Island. The islands are rich in sea life, particularly seals and sea lions and there are thick beds of kelp on the rocks.

By 1987 the small diving tender operated by the Navy was clearly inadequate and a search was made for an alternative vessel. This was found in a surplus diving support vessel from a North Sea oil rig. The STAR PERSEUS was renamed MANAWANUI and commissioned into the Royal New Zealand Navy in April 1988. With only a small crew, the new acquisition was sailed to New Zealand in its original colours, being painted grey after it arrived in Auckland.

With the creation of the Women's Royal New Zealand Naval Service in 1942, there was a need to provide accommodation for female ratings. Following the end of the Second World War the Navy purchased the Ventnor Private Hotel on King Edward Parade in Devonport for use as a Wrens hostel. Renamed Elizabeth House, in honour of Princess Elizabeth, the hostel was used until 1990 when alternative accommodation was available within the naval base. Ft0914

In November 1978 HMNZS WAIKATO was at sea south of Stewart Island, when an urgent request for a medical evacuation of a seriously injured seaman was received from a Russian fishing vessel. The weather conditions were extreme and it took some time to locate the vessel. When the two vessels finally met, the seaman was lifted off by helicopter in the midst of a gale. Later the pilot and the two crew of the helicopter were decorated for gallantry.

As part of the commemorations of the 50th anniversary of the Battle of the Atlantic, in May 1993, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth reviewed a fleet of warships from several countries, including two from New Zealand. The British side of the battle was directed from Liverpool, which was the centre of the commemorations and it was off that port that the ships gathered for the review. On the day Her Majesty reviewed the ships from the Royal Yacht BRITANNIA, the weather was atrocious, with a gale of force 8 blowing gusting to force 9.

In 1926 New Zealand purchased a WWI Castle class trawler/minesweeper from Canada, which was re-named WAKAKURA. The vessel served as a training platform for the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve (NZ) units located in each of the main centres. It visited each, taking their personnel to sea on training cruises. Weather conditions on the New Zealand coastline are often most unpleasant, as depicted here, off Godley Head on Bank's Peninsula. Ft0935

During the First World War the New Zealand Navy had only one ship, an old cruiser, which spent most of the war in the Middle East. In the first part of 1915 it was operating in the eastern Mediterranean, ranging from the Gulf of Alexandretta to the coast of North Africa. In mid year it was in the Red Sea before being sent to the Persian Gulf. PHILOMEL remained there until it returned to New Zealand in early 1917. Ft0930

To service the New Zealand Navy's cruisers, the Government hired a tanker of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary, in 1924. This was necessary because at that time there were no oil fuel facilities in this country and few in the Pacific. Nucula regularly refuelled the cruisers at the islands of the Pacific, as far afield as the Marquesas and Tahiti and on occasions in places such as Mexico. The name of the ship is the Latin name for the scallop shell.

Painted especially for the cover of a book on the history of the Royal New Zealand Navy, the modern ANZAC class frigate then under construction, is shown with HMS NEW ZEALAND, a gift to the Royal Navy in 1909. Symbolising the modern navy with its past, this work not only captures the technology of warships at the beginning and end of the 20th century, but also the change in outlook of New Zealanders, from being reliant upon Britain for our defence, to having an independent attitude. Ft0926

During the Second World War the potential for enemy raiders to lay mines off the New Zealand coast was immediately considered and some trawlers were converted for minesweeping duties. Additionally, purpose-built minesweepers were acquired. Four of these were of the Scottish Isles class, which not only swept German mines off the coast, but also those laid as an anti-invasion measure. Two of these ships are shown, en route to sweep a defensive minefield in the Bay of Islands, HMNZS KILLEGRAY is in the foreground.

Following the end of the First World War there was an immediate need to reactivate New Zealand's naval progress and as an interim step before various recommendations could be implemented, HMS CHATHAM was offered to the Government. Commissioned in October 1920 the ship arrived in New Zealand in January 1921 and served until 1924. In that time it was involved in setting up a training facility in Auckland, based on the old PHILOMEL, as well as showing the flag throughout the country and the islands of the South Pacific.

HMNZS ENDEAVOUR was on its delivery voyage to New Zealand, when on 10 April 1988 an Indonesian 10m fishing vessel was encountered adrift in the Makassar Strait, seeking assistance. Technicians from ENDEAVOUR were able to quickly repair the vessel's problem, a broken drive shaft. Having provided the crew with a meal, the elated Indonesians were left to carry on fishing.

The weather off the lower South Island can vary widely and in winter, snow showers at sea are common. While the conditions can be trying, they make for outstanding seascapes, such as when the frigate HMNZS SOUTHLAND and the inshore patrol craft, HMNZS MOA exercised together off Taiaroa Heads in 1989. MOA was the training vessel of the Royal New Zealand Naval Volunteer Reserve unit in Dunedin.

At 2pm, a boy at the Masthead, Nicholas Young, shouted "Land!". This extract from the Journal of Captain James Cook on 6 October 1769 records the first sighting of New Zealand by the great navigator. Cook had sailed from England in the Barque ENDEAVOUR the previous year and after charting this country, returned home via Australia. He was to visit New Zealand on two further voyages, in 1773 and 1777. Ft0905

For decades the Royal New Zealand Navy missed the services of a tanker which could keep its ships refuelled when out of port. This deficiency was overcome in 1988 with the commissioning of HMNZS ENDEAVOUR at Ulsan in Korea. ENDEAVOUR had been built there by Hyundai Industries and the ceremony was attended by Mrs J. McLean, the wife of the Mayor of New Plymouth, who had launched the ship.

In 1986 naval vessels from a number of countries gathered in Sydney to help the Royal Australian Navy celebrate its 75th anniversary. Amongst the ships were two from New Zealand, HMNZS ships CANTERBURY and SOUTHLAND. This painting depicts CANTERBURY arriving off North Head at the entrance to Port Jackson, the harbour on which Sydney is located. Ft856

As with any travellers, the personnel on board New Zealand Navy ships are required to be processed by HM Customs on their return to New Zealand. With a crew of about 250 on board a Leander Class frigate, this can be a lengthy process. To allow those on board to reunite with their families as soon as possible after arrival, customs officers are taken to meet the ship before it gets to Auckland. In this case, the diving tender HMNZS MANAWANUI is taking customs and agriculture officers to HMNZS CANTERBURY off Cape Brett.

In November 1965 HMNZS ROYALIST was returning to New Zealand from the Far East. The ship had visited Manus Island and was in the Coral Sea en route to Suva, when the boiler water became contaminated with sea water. For several days the ship drifted, before being taken in tow for the long slow passage back to Auckland. During this time conditions onboard were quite unpleasant and drinking water was in short supply. Spirits were raised on the morning of 6 November when a Royal New Zealand Air Force Sunderland aircraft dropped a parcel of mail to the ship.

During the Second World War several thousand New Zealanders served on loan with the Royal Navy and many of these joined 'Coastal Forces' - the small craft which fought nightly battles for control of the seas in the English Channel. One such person was Lieutenant Commander Jim Macdonald who became Senior Officer of the 21st Motor Torpedo Boat Flotilla at the age of 21. Fighting at ranges as close as 100 metres in their plywood boats with petrol engines, these men were a special breed who deserved their very special reputation. Jim Macdonald became the most highly decorated New Zealand naval officer of the war.

The Royal Australian Navy celebrated its 75th anniversary in 1986 and one of the major events was a Fleet Review in Sydney Harbour, reviewed by his Royal Highness Admiral of the Fleet Prince Phillip. After the celebrations the ships sailed from Sydney to exercise off the coast of New South Wales, before dispersing to return to their various home ports. This work depicts the departure of some of the ships from Sydney, from a small cove, known as "Ladies Bay", which is just inside South Head. Ft0854

It is not always fine and sunny in Auckland and there are the occasional overcast days. However, with the harbour as calm as a mill-pond the setting well complements the warships' grey colour scheme, particularly when returning to the naval base after a long period away. On such occasions the officers and ship's company line the upperdeck, which not only adds to the colour, but also gives most of them the opportunity to see what is happening.

When a ship needs maintenance on its hull below the waterline, it is docked in Calliope Dry Dock in the Naval Base at Devonport. In the dock it sits on large wooden blocks, carefully placed to support the bottom of the ship so that the propellers and other underwater fittings are not damaged. There technical staff, such as the welder depicted in this scene can undertake the necessary repair work. When this work was painted HMNZS WELLINGTON, a Leander class frigate, had recently been purchased from Britain and was undergoing an extensive refit. Ft0788

During the Second World War it was decided that one of the main contributions to the naval war would be the provision of basically trained men for service on loan to the Royal Navy. Until this time all the basic training of new entry ratings was conducted onboard the old cruiser PHILOMEL, but it simply could not cope with this new demand. The solution was found in the Navy taking over the old quarantine station on Motuihe Island in the Hauraki Gulf, which was commissioned as HMS TAMAKI in January 1941. The establishment remained there until 1963 when its functions were transferred to a surplus Army base at Narrow Neck in Devonport.

On the Northern side of the entrance to the inner Waitemata Harbour in Auckland is North Head. Its strategic importance in defending the city was recognised early and from the late 1870s batteries of guns were mounted there for protection in the event of an attack by hostile warships. The defences were gradually strengthened over the years before being reduced following the Second War War. Numerous wooden administration buildings remained, some of which were transferred from the Army to the Navy in the late 1950s. From that time until 1995 when it was vacated, North Head housed various naval activities.

When on 15 April 2000, Te Taua Moana Marae was officially opened, it was the culmination of many years of effort. This significant event was made possible by the support and impetus provided by the Navy's senior management, complemented by many hours of voluntary help by personnel of all ranks. Since its opening the marae has become an integral part of navy life.

On 1 October 1991 the Royal New Zealand Navy celebrated the 50th Anniversary of the granting of the "Royal" appellation by His Majesty King George VI. The event was market in numerous ways, including the publication of a book which featured a number of paintings by Colin Wynn, several of which were specially commissioned. The climax of the celebrations was a Fleet Review in Auckland's Waitemata Harbour, where ships from countries around the Pacific were at anchor on 5 October. The reviewing officer was the Governor General, Dame Catherine Tizard, who embarked in HMNZS TUI which steamed down the lines of ships, being saluted by each as she passed. Ft1086

In 1941 New Zealanders serving with the Royal Navy were slowly being posted to HMS NEPTUNE, which was to be deployed to the Pacific. With the North African campaign in full swing NEPTUNE was kept in the Mediterranean and on the night of 19 December, when leading several other ships to intercept a German supply convoy, it ran into a minefield. After striking four mines the ship sank and the only survivor of the 750 men on board, was not one of the 150 New Zealanders.

For ten years between 1975 and 1985, four Lake class patrol craft built in England, were employed on fisheries protection duties around the New Zealand coastline. In this painting HMNZS HAWEA is depicted on a southern patrol searching for intrusions by foreign fishing vessels in the vicinity of the Snares Islands, to the south of Stewart Island. Also depicted are Sooty Shearwaters and Snare's Crested Penguins.