NEW STOCK

EAST AFRICA 1943.11.24 Air Mail Letter Card from R N Barracks Kilindini
- water-stains
- black/white label affixed on back by GPO Mount Pleasant, London:
"This Airgraph {deleted} Air Mail Letter has been recovered from the sea but it is not known in what circumstances it came to be in the sea/ Returned Letter Section/ Mount Pleasant E.C.1.
{imprint} R01154C3/44 5m/".
Scarce label. Not seen before by me.

Airgraph 1941.12.23 from the Royal Navy Submarine H.M.S.Talisman to Hay Wrightson FRSA - the famous portraitist!
From Sub Lt M.J.Brendon, H.M.S. Talisman.
Message reads:"Dear Hay Wrightson, I feel I must write you a line to tell you how delighted I am with the portrait of my friend Judy....
I look forward to seeing the painting you have done of Peter and I know how delighted my mother will be with it....Mike Brendon"

Historical Note: Sub-Lieutenant Michael John Brendon was a Royal Navy officer serving on the T-class submarine HMS Talisman (N78). He was 22 years old when he died presumably on or before September 18, 1942. The HMS "Talisman" was lost on a mission returning to Gibraltar in September 1942, likely sunk by enemy action. The "Talisman" was nicknamed the "Jolly Roger" as she flew the pirate flag.

Michael's brother Lieutenant Peter Algernon Brendon RNVR - whose portrait is referred to in the message - served in the Royal Naval Reserve on board H.M.S. Hector. He died aged 25, when the ss Staffordshire, the ship he was in as a passenger sailing with his family to Ceylon, was sunk 150 miles northwest of the Butte of Lewis on 29th March 1941.

Peter and Michael were both pupils at the Nautical College, Pangbourne.

Their parents were Commander Charles Lionel Brendon, R.N. (1876-1947), and Dorothy Susan Brendon, of Sherborne, Dorsetshire.
They suffered the tragic loss of all three sons in the space of a year - two in the Royal Navy and one in the Army.

From wikipedia: "Talisman had a relatively short but active career, spending most of her time in the Mediterranean.
One of her first actions was the capture of the French fishing vessel Le Clipper, which was then used to observe U-boat movements off the Gironde estuary before being brought into Falmouth, Cornwall. She later attacked HMS Otus by mistake, but was unsuccessful. She went on to sink two sailing vessels with its deck gun, the Vichy-French passenger ship Théophile Gautier and the Italian merchant Calitea, as well as destroying the grounded wreck of the German merchant Yalova. She also unsuccessfully attacked the German merchant Salzburg and an Italian convoy, missing the Italian merchant Lauretta, and being heavily depth charged by the escorting Italian torpedo boat Libra.
Sinking.Talisman left Gibraltar on 10 September 1942 carrying supplies to Malta, where she was due no later than 18 September. She reported sighting a U-boat off Philippeville, Algeria on 15 September; a Gibraltar-based Sunderland of 202 Squadron was sent out and caught the Italian submarine, probably the Alabastro, on the surface and sank her.
Nothing was heard from Talisman again and she failed to arrive at Malta. She is presumed either to have hit an Italian mine off Sicily or to have been destroyed by Italian surface forces on 17 September. She was declared overdue on 18 September 1942."

Hay Wrightson 1874-1949 was a much sought after photographer and artist known for his work with the Royal Family. Many of his works are in the National Portrait Gallery.