Robert L Holt painting for the book The Last Bus Home, departing Liverpool.
One of a pair of paintings, specially commissioned, the other painting depicting her violent end.
This Holt line ship was built in Liverpool for the Liverpool company Holt Lines and was a typical tramp steamer of her day. A tramp steamer was a general cargo ship capable of handling cargo in ports, off beaches with local craft often launched through surf and up rivers.
Robert L. Holt
worked mostly to the West African coast.
She was the last British ship with troops and refugees out of Dieppe before the Germans over ran the region. As such she is the subject of a book called The Last Bus Home, written by a soldier who was forever grateful to her and her people. As far as I know the book never reached publication, the author who’s name i may still have on file, maybe, died before he could publish ‘The Last Bus Home’.
Robert L. Holt was eventually sunk of Africa by U 69, at night after a fierce gun battle. The commander of U 69 reported he had sunk an Armed Merchant Cruiser and was given an Iron Cross. In reality she was just a tramp steamer with one old WW1 gun and a very gallant crew. There were no survivors.
Gordon Frickers is one of the very few artists invited to created a one man show of (35) paintings (May 2011) at the European Parliament, Brussels.
Gordon Frickers is widely considered among the all time very best of marine artists.
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