'The Splashes of Canopus's Guns': Scharnhorst and Dresden at the Battle of the Falkland islands, 8 December 1914, about 13.30

This drawing was reproduced in Wyllie and M.F. Wren's 'Sea Fights of the Great War (1918) f. p. 100. It shows the German armoured cruiser 'Scharnhorst' with the light cruiser 'Dresden' astern. They are steaming away from Port Stanley at approximately 13.30 on the 8 December 1914 and - by the book's account - coming under fire from the guns of the 'Canopus' (firing from there) rather than from the British battlecruisers 'Invincible' and 'Inflexible'. The received date of the drawing is 1916, but it bears no obvious inscription to that effect. However, Wyllie did make use of some drawings he already had for his book, rather than doing all-new ones for the purpose.

Object Details

ID: PAE1022
Collection: Fine art
Type: Drawing
Display location: Not on display
Creator: Wyllie, William Lionel
Vessels: Canopus (1897)
Date made: 1916; 1916-18 1916-1918
Credit: National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London, Caird Collection
Measurements: 156 mm x 325 mm