German kapok life jacket from SS Ketty Brovig 1941 : Supply Assistant H R Keats, HMAS Canberra

German manufactured life jacket which has a beige linen-like fabric shell and kapok filling. A length of brown woven cotton tape has been sewn across the mid-line of the jacket on the outside. On the top there are a pair of simple shoulder straps made from the same material as the shell. The eight vertical padded cells of the jacket are in pairs, divided by narrow strips of fabric.

Associated with 23768 Supply Assistant Horace Russell Keats, RAN, who served in HMAS Canberra. He acquired the jacket from a crew member of the SS `Ketty Brovig' (Norwegian merchant tanker), which was captured on 2 February 1941 by the Germans who intended to use it to supply their Raiders in the Indian Ocean. HMAS Canberra detected Ketty Brovig accompanying SS `Coburg' (merchant freighter) near the Seychelles on 4 March 1941. The vessel fled but was forced to heave to by an aircraft that had been launched by the Canberra. Her crew proceeded to scuttle her to prevent her recapture, but the Canberra sent a party aboard and took her German, Norwegian and Chinese crew prisoners before dispatching the ship with gunfire. Supply Assistant Keats, who was aged 20, died when HMAS Canberra was sunk on 9 August 1942. He is commemorated on Panel 74, Column 1, Plymouth Naval Memorial, Devon, United Kingdom.