Shared Experience: Art and War

The Merchant Navy: The chain-locker

Henry Carr RA
The Merchant Navy: The chain-locker
oil on canvas
76.5 x 91.6
IWM ART 2590

In this view inside a chain-locker, two sailors guide the ship’s anchor chain as it comes down from above. Before leaving for the Middle East as an official war artist, Carr took a trip on a Merchant Navy ship. He was passionately concerned that the everyday toil of servicemen and women should be recorded as part of the war artists scheme, believing this was of great public interest.