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| Photo credit: Malindine, E G (Capt), War Office official photographer [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons |
I've been looking at the drawings again today and am really impressed by them. You can see all the drawings on the Wikicommons website as the Imperial War Museum has placed the series in the public domain. I think some of Gross' drawings enhance the comments my dad wrote in his diary.
Monday
25th October 1943
"Arrived
at Casablanca
about 10.00.
Stayed
two hours while our escort destroyers re-fuelled.
Continued
to sea.
Changed
to tropical rig in afternoon – khaki shirt and shorts. Many comments at this
from R.N. chaps as the Fleet Air Arm is the only branch of Navy allowed khaki
in the tropics.
The
nights are extremely beautiful. I stood in the bows for a long time tonight
watching the sunset and the swarms of flying fish playing in the spray. Some of
them are quite large and their mode of travel is to swim until they are moving
very fast and then launch themselves with a flick of the tail and glide just
above the water. A school of porpoises followed for quite a while."
I don't think these chaps are all Fleet Air Arm but the drawing highlights the contrast between the two colours. And how crowded the ships were.
I don't think these chaps are all Fleet Air Arm but the drawing highlights the contrast between the two colours. And how crowded the ships were.
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By Gross, Anthony [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
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"Sighted
the African coast early in the morning and at 10.10 dropped anchor in Freetown harbour.
The
town looks very pretty with brightly coloured houses, the outstanding objects
being a church and two wireless aerials. Behind the town to the left is the
coastal range of hills.
Large
numbers of canoes fill the harbour, some mere dug-outs but others quite decent
boats."
I'm not certain these drawings are at Freetown in Sierra Leone but the landscape looks similar to photographs I've seen.
I'm not certain these drawings are at Freetown in Sierra Leone but the landscape looks similar to photographs I've seen.
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| By Gross, Anthony (CBE) (RA) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons |
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| By Gross, Anthony (CBE) (RA) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons |
"Still
at sea. However people can write poetry and extol the sea I don’t know. I hate
the sight of it.
Am
spending my time at present in reading. There are innumerable paper-backed
books on board and I read on an average one a day. To-day it was "English
Diaries 19th Century". I particularly liked the selections from
Dorothy Wordsworth’s."
My dad wrote this comment when he was in transit via the Panama Canal to Australia. Although Gross was on a different journey I think this drawing really captures the isolation and tedium of a long voyage.
My dad wrote this comment when he was in transit via the Panama Canal to Australia. Although Gross was on a different journey I think this drawing really captures the isolation and tedium of a long voyage.
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| By Gross, Anthony [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons |
And are those really hens in this final drawing?
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| By Gross, Anthony [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons |
I Think I Prefer the
Tinned Variety
The Diary of a Petty Officer in the Fleet Air Arm during World
War II
by N. Buckle & C. Murray