Vol. 18 No. 4, April 2022

Recently I picked up a print of an Edwin Meeker etching showing WWI submarine chasers in action. Meeker's son, Norman Meeker, was a crewman on submarine chaser SC 89. 

The artist takes license in terms of the formation of the boats, in that the wing boats are heading toward the position of a depth charge the unit leader presumably just dropped, a potentially fatal departure from standard attack formation. But of course that doesn't detract from the image, a nice illustration of chasers in rough seas during an attack.

Since I saw this drawing years ago, reproduced in The Subchaser Club of America newsletter, January, 1921, I've been looking for a print. A new mat and glass and the original frame make for a nice piece. Here is the "before" and "after":

Etching by Edwin Meeker, T. Woofenden Collection

I've noticed in recent years that WWI submarine chaser-related materials are becoming increasingly less available. Fifteen years ago, prints and even other types of artifacts showed up on auction sites quite often, for example, but it's rare now to find something interesting.

--Todd Woofenden, editor

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