'old portsmouth: mine-sweepers putting to sea'
signed by the artist in pencil, in the lower left margin. A view out of the harbour mouth, with old portsmouth on the left, showing an armed trawler and a group of steam launches leaving in the early morning in the period 1910-19, but probably during the first world war, since the print relates to wyllie's oil paint ing of the same subject, exhibited at the royal academy in 1915. The minesweeping launches shown sailed erly each morning during the war to check the shipping channels off portsmouth for any german mines surreptitiously laid in the night by inflitrating surface boats or submarines. Wyllie's home (from 1906) was tower house, just to the right of the trawler, with a fine view over the entrance and spithead. This etching was reproduced as a half-tone plate in wyllie's co-authored book 'more sea fights of the great war' (1919) f. P. 68, with the title quoted above. Date: circa 1915. Dimensions: Sheet: 191 x 237 mm; Mount: 316 mm x 482 mm. Collection: Fine art.
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