'Gallipoli: Troops Disembarking on W Beach at Gallipoli, 6 a.m. April 26th 1915' [sic: but correctly 25 April, in the Dardanelles campaign]

Inscribed by the artist, below image: 'Troops disembarking on W. Beach 6 AM April 26th', though the date is apparently wrong (see below) as it was when the drawing was reproduced in his and M.F. Wren's 'Sea Fights of the Great War' (1918) f. p. 58, with the printed title quoted above. Further inscriptions add detail: far left, on the land, 'Trenches', above 'Euryalus picket boat'; then to right of the title, 'Agamemnon's picket boat after slipping her tow', and above and to right on the land, 'Line of Turkish trenches/ Barbed wire 8 rows/ Dead and wounded lying on beach'. The artist has then signed, bottom right, 'W L Wyllie from a sketch by a naval officer'. The landing is clearly one against opposition and shells are also exploding on the ridge behind the beach. The 'naval officer' was presumably present, Wyllie's accuracy being dependent on his drawing alone and unverifiable. However, one discrepancy is that the assault took place at 06.00 on 25 April 1915, not the 26th. The follow-up troops that landed next day were not subjected to intense fire because the Turkish trenches, which were manned by only about 240 Ottoman troops, had been captured. There is no evidence that the battleship 'Agamemnon' herself was involved in any of the landings on S to Y beaches during the assault phase, being assigned to protect the destroyers and minesweepers that, together with her, comprised the Fifth Squadron. The armoured cruiser 'Euryalus' (two companies) and the battleship 'Implacable' (one company) were both involved in the landing of troops of the 1st Lancashire Fusiliers on W Beach and they were units of the First Squadron, which was responsible for the assualt phase. The troops were brought ashore in 32 cutters, towed in groups of four by steam pinnaces. It is possible, as the drawing suggests, that one of the pinnaces used in this role was from the 'Agamemnon', alongside that also shown, far left, from 'Euryalus'.

Object Details

ID: PAE1023
Collection: Fine art
Type: Drawing
Display location: Not on display
Creator: Wyllie, William Lionel
Places: Gelibolu
Vessels: Agamemnon (1906)
Date made: circa 1915; 1915-18 1915-1918
Credit: National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London, Caird Collection
Measurements: 160 mm x 316 mm