Military-Art.com Home Page
Order Enquiries (UK) : 01436 820269

You currently have no items in your basket


Buy with confidence and security!
Publishing military art since 1985

Don't Miss Any Special Deals - Sign Up To Our Newsletter!
MILITARY
ART
AVIATION
ART
NAVAL
ART

Product Search         

FEATURED CURRENT OFFER - £16 LARGE SIZE CLASSIC MILITARY ART PRINTS.

ALWAYS GREAT OFFERS :
20% FURTHER PRICE REDUCTIONS ON HUNDREDS OF LIMITED EDITION ART PRINTS
BUY ONE GET ONE HALF PRICE ON THOUSANDS OF PAINTINGS AND PRINTS
FOR MORE OFFERS SIGN UP TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER

HMS/M Thrasher by John Pettitt. (Y) - Military Art

HMS/M Thrasher by John Pettitt. (Y)


Please note that our logo is used on our website images only and does not appear on our products.



HMS/M Thrasher by John Pettitt. (Y)

HMS Thrasher was on her 8th patrol when on the 16th June 1942, an unsuccessful torpedo attack was made on the German merchant vessel Arkadia off Crete. Later, at 1155 hours, they spotted a deeply laden merchant vessel of about 3000 tons and turned to attack. The vessel had 5 escorts and aircraft circling overhead. At 1234 hours they fired the first salvo from 2000 yards, and immediately the submarine shook from a muffled explosion - probably a bomb from an aircraft, and machine gun bullets were heard striking the water above soon after. Three minutes later, two distant explosions were heard a few seconds apart - perhaps the torpedoes exploding or it may have been depth charges. Thrasher dived and at 1245 experienced the first of 33 depth charges, an uncomfortable experience with minor damage caused to the submarine. The following day, at 0150 hours, the crew discovered a large hole in the side of the gun platform and an unexploded bomb laying on the casing just forward of the gun. With a protion of its tail still attached, the bomb could not roll off of the casing. At 0240 hours, Thrasher went full astern and lowered into the water to dislodge the bomb. After, it was discovered that a further unexploded bomb was inside the casing and lying on the pressure hull. To remove this meant dragging the device 20 feet through the casing with great danger of it exploding. Lt P S W Roberts and PO T W Gould carried out this task and safely disposed of the bomb over the side at 0330 hours. For this action, they were both awarded the Victoria Cross. The painting depicts HMS Thrasher in her blue liver heading for Alexandria at the end of this patrol.
AMAZING VALUE! - The value of the signatures on this item is in excess of the price of the print itself!
Item Code : DHM6106YHMS/M Thrasher by John Pettitt. (Y) - This Edition
TYPEEDITION DETAILSSIZESIGNATURESOFFERSYOUR PRICEPURCHASING
EX-DISPLAY
PRINT
**Signed limited edition of 1000 prints. (Two prints reduced to clear)

Ex display print in near perfect condition with some light scratches and minor handling damage.

Great value : Value of signatures exceeds price of item!
Image size 27 inches x 19 inches (69cm x 48cm) Mackenzie, Hugh (signed in person)
Barker, L P (signed in person)
Gould, Tommy (signed in person)
Fitzgerald, Reggie (signed in person)
Davies, A G (signed in person)
McIntosh, Ian (signed in person)
+ Artist : John Pettitt


Signature(s) value alone : £320
£70 Off!Now : £120.00

Quantity:
SPECIAL OFFER : ADD A CLIPPED SIGNATURE TO THE ABOVE PRINT AT A VERY SPECIAL RATE!

Add Signature :
H A Kidd.
for £55.00
Buy One Get One Half Price


Add Signature :
George Kimbell.
for £110.00
Buy One Get One Half Price


Add Signature :
Ian Fraser.
for £40.00
Buy One Get One Half Price


Add Signature :
Paul Chapman.
for £55.00
Buy One Get One Half Price

All prices on our website are displayed in British Pounds Sterling



Other editions of this item : HMS/M Thrasher by John Pettitt.DHM6106
TYPEEDITION DETAILSSIZESIGNATURESOFFERSYOUR PRICEPURCHASING
PRINTSigned limited edition of 1000 prints.
Great value : Value of signatures exceeds price of item!
Image size 27 inches x 19 inches (69cm x 48cm) Mackenzie, Hugh (signed in person)
Barker, L P (signed in person)
Gould, Tommy (signed in person)
Fitzgerald, Reggie (signed in person)
Davies, A G (signed in person)
McIntosh, Ian (signed in person)
+ Artist : John Pettitt


Signature(s) value alone : £320
£20 Off!Add any two items on this offer to your basket, and the lower priced item will be half price in the checkout!Now : £170.00VIEW EDITION...
General descriptions of types of editions :


Extra Details : HMS/M Thrasher by John Pettitt. (Y)
About all editions :





Photographs from when the print was signed. Top photo (left to right) : Tommy Gould VC, Sir Ian McIntosh, A G Davies and Sir Hugh Mackenzie.
Bottom Photo : Tommy Gould signing the prints.




A photograph of an edition of the print.

Signatures on this item
*The value given for each signature has been calculated by us based on the historical significance and rarity of the signature. Values of many pilot signatures have risen in recent years and will likely continue to rise as they become more and more rare.
NameInfo
The signature of Commander Reggie Fitzgerald DSC

Commander Reggie Fitzgerald DSC
*Signature Value : £45

Casing Officer on board HMS Thrasher.
The signature of Lieutenant A G Davies DSC (deceased)

Lieutenant A G Davies DSC (deceased)
*Signature Value : £50

Albert George Davies was born on May 6th 1920 at Ramsgate. He was offered a choral scholarship by Westminster Abbey, but high Anglicanism overawed him. Instead he became a contemporary of Edward Heath, the future Prime Minister, at Chatham House School where the fees were four guineas a term. Encouraged by his father, who had been a telegraphist in the Royal Navy, young Davies sat the Civil Service examination for a naval scholarship, which he passed with good marks to join as a special entry cadet in September 1937. He recalled that, in his first ship, the light cruiser Newcastle, early in 1939, the official visit of the French President had necessitated for the last time naval officers to wear cocked hats, frock coats, epaulettes and white kid gloves. Soon after the outbreak of war he was at Scapa Flow when Gunther Prien in U-47 sank the battleship Royal Oak. In November he was still in Newcastle when she was adjacent to the armed merchant cruiser Rawalpindi on the Northern Patrol line between Scotland and Greenland. His career promised well when he was made sub-lieutenant of the gunroom of the battleship Queen Elizabeth, where he was expected to keep the young Australian, British and Polish midshipmen in order; but after a boisterous evening in Gibraltar, involving a stolen carpet and a runaway car, he was sent in disgrace to the submarine depot ship Medway. His introduction to the trade was harder than usual, the bullying Crap Miers declaring he would not have Davies in his submarine, Torbay, and E F Bertie Pizey, captain of Oberon, claiming exclusive use of Davies' childhood first name. Being pot valiant, Davies told Miers that he wouldn't serve with him anyway, and thereafter he hyphenated his first names, Albert-George. In August 1941 a shortage of officers meant Davies being lent to the submarine Tetrarch, without the usual training, and his first experience of being depth charged. Tetrarch had torpedoed an Italian merchant ship in the harbour of Benghazi, but while withdrawing through the swept channel it ran aground while submerged and was attacked by two destroyers for several hours. One of the last depth charge salvoes was so close that it blew Tetrarch free of the shingle bottom and it was able to creep away, low on battery power. Davies remembered how sweet the fresh air was when eventually she surfaced after dark. Davies was navigator of Thrasher in March 1942 when destroyers and aircraft hunted it off Crete. Surfacing afterwards, Davies heard a clanking noise but did not identify the cause. After writing up the attack log he went to sleep, unaware of what was happening 10 ft above him. Thrasher's captain, Rufus Mackenzie, had decided not to alarm the crew while two unexploded bombs lodged in Thrasher's casing were removed by the first officer, Lieutenant Peter Roberts and the second coxswain, Petty Officer Tom Gould. Roberts and Gould worked regardless of the risk that the bombs might explode when moved and that Thrasher would dive immediately if sighted by the enemy, thus drowning them: they were both awarded the Victoria Cross. After completing the perisher course for submarine commanders, his first command was the submarine Ursula, where his task was to train a Russian crew and hand it over to the Soviet navy. Lieutenant-Commander Albert-George Davies was the last British submariner to sink a Japanese warship in the Second World War. In April 1945 Davies was commanding the overseas patrol submarine Stubborn on an 11-week voyage from the Clyde to Fremantle to join the Anglo-Dutch 4th Submarine Flotilla, operating under the Americans. He was north of Bali when he heard that a Japanese destroyer was to pass though his area on July 25. Commencing a day-long watch listening on Asdic with an occasional all-round look by periscope, he was in a funk lest the Americans deprive him of his first opportunity to fire a shot in action. Nevertheless he managed several hours of good sleep until propellers were heard drawing close. Although the Japanese destroyer Nadakaze was zigzagging wildly, Davies found a firing position. Two in the salvo of four torpedoes fired at 3,000 yards range struck, and his spontaneous cry of We've blown his bloody arse right off was greeted by his crew's cheers. Davies wanted a prisoner for interrogation, but as he manoeuvred amongst the survivors one of them made what was taken a rude gesture, and was promptly shot through the head by the gunnery officer, using his pistol. It was an instinctive and unpremeditated action, but Davies decided that he must shoot all the survivors to prevent reprisals should Stubborn itself be later captured, and he sent for machine-guns to be brought to the bridge without relish. Looking back years later David was convinced that the decision he had made was the right one. However, an aircraft forced him to dive and, when he surfaced that night, there was no sign of survivors. In the course of this patrol, Davies also destroyed shipping by gunfire, bombarded a harbour in northern Bali, destroying a jetty and some landing craft, and boarded junks at night; in one of these incidents the gunnery officer went missing. Davies was awarded the DSC. From 1947 to 1949, he commanded the submarine Ambush, in which he conducted trials of an improved design of snort mast, which would enable submarines to recharge batteries while remaining submerged. He was then loaned to the Royal Indian Navy as an instructor and studied at the staff college in southern India, and afterwards was first lieutenant of the frigate Sparrow, when she doubled for Amethyst in making the film Yangtse Incident. When he retired from the Royal navy in 1958, Davies qualified as a barrister at Gray's Inn and worked for some years for the marine insurers Thomas Miller, managers of the UK P & I Club. He was secretary to the Williams Hudson shipping company, and latterly worked for the 600 Group. When Davies realised the unfair anomalies of the Ministry of Defence's pension scheme he crusaded to have them removed through the pages of The Daily Telegraph. Davies died on March 13th, 2004 aged 84.
The signature of Lieutenant L P Barker DSC

Lieutenant L P Barker DSC
*Signature Value : £45

Engineering Officer on board HMS Thrasher.


The signature of Petty Officer Tommy Gould VC (deceased)

Petty Officer Tommy Gould VC (deceased)
*Signature Value : £80

Thomas William Gould, submariner: born Dover, Kent 28 December 1914; VC 1942; married 1941 Phyllis Eldridge (died 1985; one son); died Peterborough, Cambridgeshire 6 December 2001. For the longest 40 minutes of his life, Petty Officer Tommy Gould lay on his back clutching an unexploded bomb, while being pulled by his shoulders through the casing of the submarine Thrasher. He was aware throughout this nerve-racking task not only of strange noises emanating from the bomb, but that in the event of an enemy attack the submarine would have to crash-dive and both men would be drowned. For this remarkable feat of courage, along with Lieutenant Peter Roberts, Gould was awarded a Victoria Cross: the only one to be awarded to a Jewish serviceman in the Second World War. On 16th February 1942, under the command of Lt H.S. Mackenzie, Thrasher sank a supply ship off the north coast of Crete but was immediately attacked by enemy aircraft and heavily depth-charged by the escorting anti-submarine vessels for three and a half hours. Through skilful work by its captain, Thrasher managed to survive the attack but while it was on the surface that night recharging its batteries, an unusual banging noise was heard. This proved to be two bombs, each about three feet long, six inches in diameter and weighing 100lb, that were lying on the submarine's casing just in front of the four-inch gun mounting. Roberts and Gould volunteered to remove the bombs. Gould, as Coxswain, was in charge of everything involved with the casing which enclosed a tangle of pipes, wires and other gear. When they reached the first bomb they wrapped it in an old potato sack and tied it with rope. They cautiously manhandled it forward to the bows where they dropped it overboard. As they did so, Thrasher went full astern to get clear. The second bomb proved to be far more difficult. After an examination of the casing the two men found a jagged hole in the metal; inside was the bomb, resting on top of the pressure hull. There was no practical way to recover the bomb through the hole it had made. The only way was through a hinged metal grating trap-door. Gould was to recall: To get to the bomb we had to wiggle forward through the outer casing. In that confined space there were angle irons to hold the superstructure up, battery ventilators and drop bollards as well. When we got through, I saw that it was another heavy bomb, about 100lb. Then began a nightmarish journey back through the casing, which at points gave only two feet clearance from the hull: I picked up the bomb and passed it through to Roberts. I then laid on my back with the bomb on my stomach, and held on to it while he laid on his stomach with his head to my head pulling me by my shoulders. It was pitch dark and the bomb was making this ticking noise while the submarine was being buffeted by the waves. Also at the back of their minds was the thought that if the submarine was attacked, the captain would have no option but to dive, the unpressurised casing would fill up with water and the two men would drown. After a gruelling 40 minutes they got to the grating. The bomb was then passed up to a sub- lieutenant who was waiting on the forecasing. The bomb was wrapped in sacking and gingerly lowered over the side by ropes. When we knew it was on the surface of the water we let it go, heaving lines as well. Then we ducked and waited for the explosion, but nothing happened – it obviously could not have been primed. On 29 June 1943 Gould received his Victoria Cross from King George VI who commented, I bet it was cold. Gould's father, Reuben, was lost in action in 1916 before Tommy was two years old. Tommy Gould was educated at St James School, Dover, and joined the Royal Navy in 1933 and went into the submarine service three years later. During the war he experienced the horror of being trapped on the ocean floor in the Dutch East Indies as well as being bombed by the RAF off Alexandria. But Gould loved the camaraderie of submarine life and, after being invalided out of the Navy in 1945, maintained an interest in the Navy and with the Jewish community. In 1946 he was in the front row of the Jewish ex-servicemen's march through London to protest against the government's policy towards the Jews in Palestine. He became a Lieutenant with the Bromley branch of the Sea Cadets. For many years he was Chief Personnel Manager with Great Universal Stores. He was very proud to have been elected President of the International Submarine Association of Great Britain. He was also an active member of the Victoria and George Cross Association. Gould was a smart, dapper man who in his later years wore an impressive naval beard. His Victoria Cross was sold at Sotheby's in 1987 for £48,400 and purchased by the Association of Jewish ex-servicemen. He passed away on 6th December 2001.


The signature of Vice Admiral Sir Hugh Mackenzie, KCB, DSO*, DSC (deceased)

Vice Admiral Sir Hugh Mackenzie, KCB, DSO*, DSC (deceased)
*Signature Value : £50

Educated at the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth, Hugh Mackenzie served in world war two becoming commanding officer of the Submarine HMS H28 in March 1941, of the submarine HMS H43 in June 1941, of the submarine HMS Thrasher (in which he sank 40,000 tons of enemy shipping) in March 1943 and of the submarine HMS Tantalus (in which he conducted a single patrol of nearly 12,000 miles) in June 1945 Mackenzie went on to be commanding officer of the Underwater Detection Establishment at Portland in 1952, commander of the 1st Destroyer Squadron in June 1954 and Chief of Staff to the Flag Officer Submarines in December 1956. After that he became Captain of the Boys' Training Establishment HMS Ganges in January 1959, Flag Officer Submarines in September 1961 and Chief of the Polaris Executive in Spring 1963 before retiring in September 1968. Vice Admiral Sir Hugh Mackenzie died on the 10th October 1996.


The signature of Vice-Admiral Sir Ian McIntosh KBE, CB, DSO, DSC (deceased)

Vice-Admiral Sir Ian McIntosh KBE, CB, DSO, DSC (deceased)
*Signature Value : £50

Ian Stewart McIntosh was born in Melbourne on October 11th 1919, and educated at Geelong Grammar School. lan Mclntosh volunteered for the navy in his native Australia in 1938 aged 18. McIntosh joined the submarine training course at HMS Dolphin on 30th December 1940. He was awarded the King's Dirk for graduating top of his class at Dartmouth and elected to qualify as a submariner in late 1940. On joining his first submarine, Porpoise, in 1941, at the time undertaking mine laying operations in home waters, McIntosh insisted that the Chief Engineroom Artificer show him the purpose of all the machinery, valves and pipes. But he was reticent about where he had been since completing his submarine training six months. On March 25th, 1941 Ian McIntosh was on board the Anchor Line steamship Britannia some 500 miles off Freetown, Sierra Leone, when the Britannia was attacked by the German commerce raider Thor. Thor, a motor ship capable of about 18 knots and armed with four 5.9in guns, had already sunk ten merchant ships when she attacked the Britannia. Britannia's single 4in gun was soon knocked out. On fire and sinking, she was abandoned. Early damage to her radio aerial meant that no distress message had been sent. Mclntosh found himself in lifeboat No 7, which was in great danger of being caught under Britannia's counter. The merchant navy officer in charge, Third Officer William MacVicar, recorded that it was entirely due to the skill of Sub-Lieutenant Mclntosh that this lifeboat was kept afloat and survivors were able to embark. Its Board of Trade capacity was given as 58, but 82 were crammed on board. This meant that only two oars could be used, Mclntosh and a naval rating getting the boat clear of the burning ship. For the next day the lifeboat rode to a sea anchor in a Force 5 NE trade wind, the choppy sea requiring energetic baling. On the second day Mclntosh located three holes behind the ballast tanks caused by German gunfire, the leaks from which would eventually have been fatal as the survivors grew weaker and unable to bale out such an inflow. By dint of leaning over the gunwhale, often with head and shoulders under water, he was able to plug them with pieces of blanket and then nail pieces of tobacco tin over them, causing himself extreme fatigue and illness. An attempt was made to sail east towards the African coast, but this was abandoned after 24 hours as the boat was too overburdened to make progress upwind and had probably only moved 20 miles due south. The decision was made to run before the wind and make for Brazil judged to be about 1,300 miles distant. The boat's 16 gallons of water in sealed containers and the supply of biscuits and condensed milk were clearly insufficient despite rigorous rationing. On the fourth day several of the men fainted. The crew became quarrelsome and the chief cook, who had drunk sea-water, threw himself overboard. The heat was terrific and all were getting sea-water boils and sores. When rain came their first efforts to save some water were unsuccessful, but on the sixteenth day a violent storm and heavy rain made frantic baling necessary and eased the water rationing, deaths having diminished the number needing it. After 23 days, they made a landing without mishap on the island of Curupu on northern Brazil and were succoured by fishermen. Forty-four had died. Both MacVicar and McIntosh were appointed MBE for their gallant conduct. McIntosh returned to England for three months recuperation and then was appointed to the 3rd submarine flotilla at Holy Loch and subsequently, in March 1942, to the submarine Thrasher based at Alexandria. In early July Thrasher was one of only three submarines at sea. Returning to Alexandria, she was attacked by British aircraft and put into dock for a month. Mclntosh left Thrasher at the end of September and returned home to qualify as a submarine commanding officer. His first command was the obsolescent H44, used for anti-submarine training. at Rothesay, working from HMS Cyclops (7th Submarine Flotilla) before taking command of the operational boat HMS Sceptre on 18th February 1943, working from HMS Forth at Holy Loch (3rd Submarine Flotilla). He was awarded a mention in dispatches for his part in Operation Source, the midget submarine attack on the German heavy warships Tirpitz, Scharnhorst and Lutzow in the Altenfjord on the Norwegian coast. In March 1943 Mclntosh was credited with sinking four escorted merchant ships off the coast of Norway. The following May, McIntosh sank the blockade-runner Baldur in Spanish territorial waters, which resulted in a minor diplomatic incident but ended Spain's wartime trade in iron ore with Germany. On night surface patrol off Norway, he sighted three ships and three escorts, and immediately fired four torpedoes which struck their targets; one ship exploded and another burst into flames before disappearing. Under McIntosh's command Sceptre became one of the most successful of the S-class boats in home waters, sinking almost 15,000 tons of enemy shipping; he was twice mentioned in dispatches for courage and devotion to duty, and was awarded the DSO in 1944. After the war he commanded the sub-marine Alderney with distinction, and then served two years with the Australian Navy. In 1950 he was appointed to the responsible post of teacher to the submarine commanding officers' qualifying course, after which he commanded the submarine Aeneas. Promoted to commander in 1952 and captain in 1959, his career included some very satisfying mainstream jobs - second in command of the large aircraft carrier Ark Royal, command of the 2nd Submarine Squadron and command of the aircraft carrier Victorious for two years from 1966. Mclntosh was promoted to rear admiral in 1968 and appointed Director-General (Weapons) at Bath, managing the naval weapon development programmes. This experience was valuable to his final appointment as Deputy Chief of Defence Staff (Operational Requirements) in the rank of vice admiral, He was appointed CB in 1970 and KBE in 1973 when he retired from the Royal Navy. He died on July 31st, 2003, aged 83.
Artist Details : John Pettitt
Click here for a full list of all artwork by John Pettitt


John Pettitt

During WW2 John Pettitt spent his childhood living in and around RAF and USAF Air Bases that included both fighters and bombers. This created for John a huge interest in aviation both early and modern, aspects from which he draws his inspiration for his paintings. Although primarily an aviation artist, John also paints maritime topics too - submarines being a particular favourite. He is mainly self-taught with brief periods at art colleges. He has exhibited in Athens, New York and Melbourne, Australia and has regular one man shows in the UK. His work can be seen in many air and navy bases and museums in the UK and abroad. John has also painted 3 works on commission depicting 617 Squadron Dam Busters, prints of these works were signed by 10 members of 617 squadron crew.

More about John Pettitt

Contact Details
Shipping Info
Terms and Conditions
Cookie Policy
Privacy Policy

Join us on Facebook!

Sign Up To Our Newsletter!

Stay up to date with all our latest offers, deals and events as well as new releases and exclusive subscriber content!

This website is owned by Cranston Fine Arts.  Torwood House, Torwoodhill Road, Rhu, Helensburgh, Scotland, G848LE

Contact: Tel: (+44) (0) 1436 820269.  Email: cranstonorders -at- outlook.com

Follow us on Twitter!

Return to Home Page