During the Second World War, John Kingsley Cook (1911-94) served in the merchant navy as a wireless officer. He joined in 1940, and went on his first sea voyage, to the United States, in December 1940. His ship was sunk off the coast of Algeria in 1941, the survivors being taken captive and held there until liberated after the Allied landing in North Africa in 1942. He resumed service after a few months recuperating at home, and was discharged in August 1945, when he joined the staff at the Edinburgh College of Art. There, he taught engraving and graphic design and lectured on the History of Art, before being appointed Head of Design in 1960. He retired in 1971.

Throughout the war, Cook, drew life at sea and in captivity. He also created a number of retrospective drawings in the 1980s, when he was working on his (as yet unpublished) memoirs. 262 drawings and 2 paintings of his wartime experiences were presented by his family to the National Maritime Museum in 2012.

Cook recorded scenes of daily life on board the ship, his crewmates at work as well as how they killed time in their time off. Here Cook represented Herbert (Bert) Hellewell, first Radio Officer on the 'Royal Crown' (also known as the 'Empire Guillemot') having his hair cut. Cook often used the back of obsolete navigational charts for his drawings, as in here. This drawing is on the back of a fragment of a navigational chart showing soundings, part of a compass rose, graticule, and lines for magnetic variation.