Set of 4 limited edition print from original etchings. Edition size: 99
360 x 240 mm
After the Battle of Jutland when the press was agog at Britannia’s apparent failure to pull off a clear victory, the Times of London published a poem by Captain Hopwood entitled “The Old Way”. Within this was a further poem, “Our Fathers” which was written during the naval manoeuvres of 1913 and which first appeared in the Journal, The Naval & Military Record, in 1913. Wyllie, we are told, was much taken with the verses and he arranged to illustrate them with the agreement of their author. Thus was produced a set of 4 etchings tracing man’s endeavours at sea from the time of the Armada until the day of the coming of the Hyper-Super Dreadnought. Everything was illustrated in his incomparably skilful way - from galleons to seaplanes, fierce battles between ships of the line in Nelsonic times to dreadnoughts being spied upon by submarine periscope: all are used to illustrate Captain Hopwood’s verse.