Studio portrait of 13662 Shipwright 1 Arthur Ernest Purkis, HMAS Perth from Sydney, NSW. A 23 ...

Studio portrait of 13662 Shipwright 1 Arthur Ernest Purkis, HMAS Perth from Sydney, NSW. A 23 year old when he enlisted on 9 November 1922, he served in various ships and establishments before being posted to London in March 1939 to join HMS Amphion later renamed HMAS Perth on 29 June 1939. After leaving England, the ship visited New York in August 1939 to represent Australia at the World’s Fair. At the outbreak of the Second World War, the ship was in the West Indies where she spent the next three months on escort duties for oil tankers in the West Indies and the Western Atlantic. In May 1940 the ship escorted the third convoy of Australian troops to the Middle East and then returned to Australia for further patrol duties. She escorted more troop ships to the Middle East in November 1941 and remained in the Mediterranean Sea to protect shipping around Crete and Malta and transport troops to Greece. After arriving back in Sydney in August 1941 she underwent a refit and then in November began patrols around Australia. In February 1942 she proceeded to the Java Theatre of operations and participated in the Battle of the Java Sea. HMAS Perth was sunk by a Japanese torpedo attack on 1 March 1942 resulting in the death of 352 personnel including Arthur Purkis. Handwritten on face of image is “Yours sincerely, Arthur. 1925”