[Working entry only] Framed and glazed set of three watercolours, which comprise part of a set with PAJ3098 and PAJ3099. They make up a narrative sequence of views of the Battle of the Falkland Islands, 8 December 1914, and were probably painted fairly shortly afterwards. Labels on the back of the frame here have the following titles: 'I The Chase about 12 o/c', 'II The Enemy turns to Engage about 1 o/c' and 'III The Scharnhorst Sinks 3 o/c'. A label marked '49a' on the glass at bottom right is an old lot or inventory number of no other significance.

At the time of the Battle of the Falklands, Lieutenent-Commander Bennett, the artist, was a lieutenant and the navigating officer on board the battleship 'Canopus', which for practical reasons (essentially her inadequate speed) was acting as temporary guardship at Port Stanley and remained there, despite firing the opening salvoes of the action at von Spee's scouting cruisers 'Gneisenau' and 'Nurnburg'. These images are therefore based more on eyewitness accounts than what he saw himself. 'The chase about 12 o/c' and depicts five ships in line, seen head, though whether these are the five German armoured and light cruisers or the five British battlecruisers and armoured cruisers remains to be clarified. 'The Enemy turns to engage about 1 o/c' shows the 'Scharnhorst' and 'Gneisenau'. 'Scharnhorst sinks 3 o'c' shows this ship heeling over and, presumably, the 'Gneisenau' on the right. The British official report on the action states that the RN ships left port in the order 'Invincible', 'Inflexible', 'Kent', 'Carnarvon' and 'Cornwall'. Action commenced at 12.50; 'Scharnhorst's' third funnel was shot away by 15.30 and she listed onto her port beam and sank at 16.17 with no survivors. 'Gneisenau' sank at 18.00 and there were 190 survivors from her crew. [BTodd/PvdM 1/13]