On 28th November 1914, Edinburgh born Commander Henry Peel Ritchie sailed into Dar-es-Salaam harbour in Tanzania to disable several German war vessels. His success came at a cost, and he suffered several life altering injuries. His heroic actions during a bombardment of fire from the enemy resulted in him receiving the highest military award.
Only small vessels were able to enter the harbour and its creeks, so Commander H P Ritchie, the former gunnery officer and Second in Command of HMS Goliath, was given command of Duplex. He led the search in Goliath’s steam pinnace, which had been fitted with a Maxim gun. He was accompanied by Lieutenant Paterson of Goliath in the Helmuth, a former German tug, and Lieutenant E Corson of HMS Fox, in a steam cutter. No German sailors were evident in the harbour. Ritchie disabled the König and the Kaiser Wilhelm II. On the latter his suspicions were aroused by the discovery of loose ammunition and he lashed steel lighters to the pinnace to afford it protection. As he attempted to make his way back across the harbour heavy firing broke out. His coxswain, Petty Officer T J Clark, was hit and Ritchie took over the wheel; he himself was hit eight times in 20 minutes. When Ritchie fainted from loss of blood Clark was able to resume the wheel and reach the Goliath.
Ritchie was awarded the VC for his bravery and, despite some life altering injuries, lived on until his 80’s.
Artist’s Response
The story assigned to me is about a commander named Henry Peel Ritchie who was hit eight times in twenty minutes in a sea battle in Tanzania but eventually saved the vessel. After some experiments, I eventually chose Linograph to present my work. I chose to present the intense scene of the war to show the commander’s bravery. I wanted the illustration to keep a simple style but also to show intensity of the sea battle, so I used a lot of short lines to present the rolling sea waves and the heavy gunfire.
Shiya Xu
Edinburgh College Of Art
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Shiya XU, former law student, current illustrator, obsessed with people, nature, fantasy and cats.
