Convoy

I did the still life above some years ago. It is in a similar style to the Victorian painters such as the Clare brothers.

Whenever I see an orange I can't but help remember my father who detested them. During the war he had been on a troop ship in a Convoy. The picture above shows his convoy with Royal Soveriegn (built in 1914 so old in the Second World war). He loaded in Liverpool I believe and then went out across the Atlantic to near enough S. America and back to Capetown, Durban, Arabia, Bombay and finally Ceylon where he was stationed at RAF Gangodawhila.
He told me it was a long time to be cramped up on a troop ship with little food or space.  They didn't eat much but had a load of oranges that came on board and they lived on them. They had plenty of company because as soon as you turned out the lights the cabins were full of cockroaches that scuttled about and fell off the damp walls onto their bunks. Anyway he said he was more fortunate than many but never fancied oranges again.

HMS Formidable in Bombay