Signed in red by the artist, lower right, 'J. Feteridge' and inscribed 'MAENAD' on the stern of the ship lower left. This (unframed) oil painting is executed on the fabric-reinforced back of part of a printed navigational chart. The signature in fact looks more like 'J.F.eteridge', who appears to have been an amateur seaman artist called James Finlayson Feteridge, quartermaster on HMS 'Maenad' when commanded by Commander John Pelham Champion, apparently including at Jutland. He is recorded as born in Belfast in 1889/90, was an Able Seaman in HMS 'Sprightly' at Devonport in April 1911, and died aged 70 at Plymouth in the summer of 1960. The Imperial War Museum, which records him as 'J. F. Feteridge', has a painting by him dated 1917 called 'The FX Six-Inch Gun of HMS 'Chester' ' showing Boy Jack Cornwall sticking to his post there at Jutland (for which he won a posthumous VC). How much more he did is unknown but both the present picture - which is of night action in the early hours of 1 June 1916 - and the more figurative IWM canvas are striking and unusual examples of amateur work.

The 'Maenad' was an M-class destroyer completed in 1915 and eventually scrapped in 1921. At Jutland she was commanded by Champion, who headed the 2nd Division of the 12th Destroyer Flotilla, which was at the rear of the Grand Fleet and attacked what were believed to be German 'Kaiser'-class battleships with torpedoes towards the end of the engagement, at about 02.00 on the morning of 1 June. An eyewitness account from 'Maenad' by Sub-Lieutenant the Hon. A. Stuart relates that: ‘At about 2.15 a.m., we turned, and everyone was at a pretty high tension waiting to sight the Germans as they appeared out of the haze. At 2.20 we sighted them and attacked. As soon as the attack started, one lost all sense of excitement, because things were happening. The Germans opened a fairly heavy fire on all of us, and right at the beginning hit the 'Onslaught', which was quite close to us. We fired one torpedo at a German battleship of the 'Konig' class about 4,000 yards off, but I do not know whether we hit. One torpedo from the Flotilla certainly found a mark. The whole attack lasted about five minutes, by which time we had passed this division of German ships and lost sight of them. After the attack our Captain [Champion], having only had time to fire one torpedo, decided to attack again, so he turned and left the Flotilla, increased to full speed and off we went after the Germans. It did not take long to find them and at 2.28 - only eight minutes after the first attack - we sighted them again and fired two torpedoes. During this and the previous attack there had been nothing for the guns’ crews to do, and, as they were very keen, I opened fire with the after gun at a German battleship; rather a ridiculous thing to fire against their armour with 4-inch shells, but it gave us a lot of satisfaction, particularly as the gun-layer swore he saw some shells explode on their superstructure. I’m afraid, however, that this firing rather disconcerted the captain, as he thought it was our ship being hit aft instead of our firing. Just before we turned away and lost sight of the Germans we had the satisfaction of seeing one of our torpedoes take effect on one of the Germans, and a most splendid explosion resulted, sending a flame well up her masthead. At the time we, of course, thought she would sink, but unfortunately we found out later that they got back to harbour’ (see 'The Fighting at Jutland'). Stuart's 4-inch gun is visible firing here on 'Meanad's stern as she turns to port, away from the German line. The silhouette in the background is a German 'Kaiser'-class battleship. Champion (later Captain, 1883-1955) was awarded the DSO for his part at Jutland. He retired from the Navy in 1922 but was recalled in 1939 for shore-based service in the Second World War, for which he was awarded the CBE in 1944.