The monitor 'severn' (right) with one of her sisters, 'humber' or 'mersey' off the belgian coast, 1914
inscribed at bottom right by the artist, 'gunnery lieut. . . . Cha[m]pness - lecture. / severn cameroons cumberland lieut f hamilton'. Of this only the word 'severn' is clearly relevant to the drawing - the others are notes of something else. The vessels shown here are two of the three 'javary'-class river monitors originally built for brazil, but taken into the royal navy as 'humber', 'mersey 'and 'severn'. The inscription suggests the one on the right is the 'severn'. They are both shown fitted with a twin 6-inch gun turret and this was their condition off the belgian coast in autumn 1914 - which is presumably the intended location of the drawing , with an unidentified seaplane flying above and low coastal land on the horizon. By december 1914 'mersey' and 'severn' had been re-armed at chatham with single 6-inch guns fore and aft, only 'humber' retaining the twin mount. All three were at malta in april 1915 when orders came for the 'mersey 'and 'severn' to move to east africa, where they remained until returning to alexandria in may 1918. The 'humber' stayed in the mediterranean until april 1916 when she transferred to port tewfik and akaba in the red sea until march 1918. The sketch of the gun, lower left, is of a 4. 7-inch howitzer of the type fitted to these three monitors on completion in 1914. None of them were involved in the cameroons operations. The other notes allude to gunnery lieutenant francis q. Champness, who joined the armoured cruiser 'cumberland' in april 1914 and left the ship in november or december 1915. Similarly lieutenant frederick h. G. Dalrymple-hamilton joined the 'cumberland' on 14 august 1913 and left her in october/november 1915 to join the destroyer 'meteor'. The 'cumberland' did serve off the west african coast in 1914-15 and was instrumental in the capture of cameroons. See also pad9910. Date: circa 1914. Dimensions: 246 mm x 311 mm. Collection: Fine art.
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