The mole at zeebrugge, probably in the 1920s
this is the seaward end of the mole at zeebrugge, though appearing more curved than was the case, since it was almost straight at the outer end bearing the gun battery and light beacon. The area coloured yellow on the right looks like a beach but is in fact the wide berthing quay on the inside of the high breakwater wall, and at a substantially lower level. Wyllie has inscribed the drawing at the bottom under the figure in blue 'com b f adams dso'. At the time of the zeebrugge raid on 23 april 1918 lieutenant-commander bryan f. Adams was on loan from the battlecruiser 'princess royal' and was in command of the royal navy's a company of the storming party. For his service at zeebrugge, adams was specially promoted to commander. This is almost certainly an on-the-spot post-war drawing but whether the figure in blue is adams making a visit with the artist to describe what happened in the raid is not known, though possible. Pae4872 is another version of the subject taken slightly further along the mole. Both may have been used by wyllie for landward details in his oil painting of 'the storming of zeebrugge mole, st george's day, 23 april 1918' (exhibited at the royal academy, 1931), now at hms 'excellent', the naval gunnery school at whale island, portsmouth, which shows the mole from rougly this viewpoint with hms 'vindictive' alongside. It is likely that wyllie visited zeebrugge to sketch the mole for the purpose, which would put this drawing in the mid- to late 1920s. Date: after 1918. Dimensions: Sheet: 356 x 507 mm. Collection: Fine art.
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