Bells of naval vessels were sometimes unhooked from the ship, upturned and used as christening fonts. A crew member who became a parent could ask the captain if the child could be christened on board when next the ship was in port. This bell is mounted near the porch of the historic St James Church in the Stone Store Basin in Kerikeri, inscribed with the on board christening of Susan Christina Jane Brown in Dunedin, 1955. The ceremony took place on the Royal New Zealand Navy ship "Black Prince" which was scrapped in the 1960s. The bell lives on at St James. Susan Brown was contacted, born in 1954 and her son Thomas, aged 27 was also christened at St James. https://ehive.com/collections/3354/objects/1220132/st-james-church-kerikeri-and-its-bell
