Rough sketch of the 'Vindictive' in the Zeebrugge Raid, 23 April 1918 RMG PW1787

Rough sketch of the 'Vindictive' in the Zeebrugge Raid, 23 April 1918
This rough early study shows HMS 'Vindictive' at Zeebrugge, seen from the port bow, between midnight and 12.45 on 23 April 1918. The 'Daffodil' is close alongside her to the left. The artist has incorrectly shown the 'Vindictive' too high against the mole, since her hull was substantially below the parapet wall. Men are hauling lines ashore while troops are scrambling ashore over the brows. Like PAF1863 and PAF1864, which are more developed, this is a preliminary sketch used for Wylllie's 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 'Vindictive from this viewpoint, including 'Daffodil' as shown here, and with the Mole on the right crowded with men of the landing party. The painting - apparently commissioned for the Royal Naval Engineering School at Keyham - was one of Wyllie's last Academy exhibits, since he died just before the 1931 exhibition opened. Studies like this for it almost certainly date to his preparation period in the late 1920s.