William Sanders always loved the sea.

He grew up in Takapuna, and often went to watch the boats sail in and out of the harbour.

As soon as he was old enough, he started working on boats. When the First World War began, he travelled to England and joined the Royal Navy.

During the war, he was in command of a ship called HMS Prize. It was a warship in disguise! All the guns were hidden away from sight, so when Prize was faced with much bigger submarines, it could still fight strongly by taking the enemy by surprise.

It was dangerous and difficult work, to fight in an undercover warship. Prize came up against three German submarines. German submarines were called U-Boats. The third time, the enemy saw through the disguise. They sunk HMS Prize. William Sanders and all his men went down with the ship.