Papers relating to Captain John (‘Jack’) Egerton Broome DSC (1901-1985) and the Convoy PQ17:

-Two message sheets with Admiralty signals to the escorts of PQ17, ordering the convoy to scatter, sent on 4 July 1942.

-Four drawings by Broome, used as illustrations in ‘Western Approaches Convoy Instructions’, mounted on two sheets:
‘Good RN-RAF co-operation is essential.’
‘Any quick method of picking up survivors is encouraged.’
‘A lot depends on the teamwork of an escort group.’
‘The first U-boat that sights your convoy is bound to tell his friends.’

-Four drawings by Broome, used as illustrations in his book ‘Convoy is to Scatter’, published by William Kimber, 1972:
[The convoy’s barrage balloons over a low carpet of fog, giving the shadowers all the information they needed]
[A bull seal hoisting itself half out of the water and delivering a two-syllabled protest]
‘Gull’s-eye view of KEPPEL wriggling cooperatively to avoid those torpedoes in that crystal-clear water’
‘One Small Flag’

-Two track charts drawn by Broome, and a reproduced diagram showing a scatter procedure for merchant ships, also used as illustrations in ‘Convoy is to Scatter’:
‘Track Chart for the 3rd and 4th July’
‘Track Chart for the 4th July’
‘Diagram of Scatter Procedure from MERSIGs’

-Single sheet, a typescript letter from Broome to Alan Pearsall, with details of a narrative and a key to symbols to go with the chart showing the route of Convoy PQ17, dated 5 January 1973.

Two oversize items in a separate folder:
-Track chart showing the route of Convoy PQ17 from Iceland through the Norwegian Sea and Barents Sea, with the positions of other vessels involved in the events, also used in ‘Convoy is to Scatter’.
-Printed table entitled ‘Barometrical Distance Tables for use in Cyclonic Regions’, with ‘Copyright 1933 of Capt. W.S. Williamson’ added by hand.

Administrative / biographical background
PQ 17 was the code name for an Allied World War II convoy in the Arctic Ocean. In July 1942, the Arctic convoys suffered a significant defeat when Convoy PQ 17 lost 24 of its 35 merchant ships during a series of heavy enemy daylight attacks which lasted a week. On 27 June, the ships sailed eastbound from Hvalfjord, Iceland for the port of Arkhangelsk, Soviet Union. The convoy was located by German forces on 1 July, after which it was shadowed continuously and attacked. The convoy's progress was being observed by the British Admiralty. First Sea Lord Admiral Dudley Pound, acting on information that German surface units, including the German battleship Tirpitz, were moving to intercept, ordered the covering force away from the convoy and told the convoy to scatter. However, due to vacillation by the German high command, the Tirpitz raid never materialized (extract from Wikipedia, March 2015).