Sinking of the SS Conte Rosso. Part 3

Sinking of the SS Conte Rosso. Part 3

In choppy water, two lifeboats are packed with people wearing military uniform. Figures are being tossed around in the sea. One figure is sinking backwards in the water with his legs in the air. Another is waving his arm in the air. Four figures, not wearing life buoys, are being hauled into the lifeboat. Pieces of debris are floating around.

Label reads “32”; signed by the author; caption reads “(3) … Trà un inferno di bombe subacque lo scafo inglese si salva per miracolo. Lo saremmo trovato contro il mese di Settembre, nell’azione che ci costò la perdita dell’Oceania e dell’ Neptunia. Solo il 14 Aprile del 1942, l’Upholder viene affondato da mezzi anti-sommergibile; la prora del Conte Rosso, era in gran parte sott’acqua, e di poppa si vedeva l’elica di dritta, già tutta in aria. Alcune imbarcazioni si capovolsero mentre erano filate in mare, la tragedia del Conte Rosso a questo punto si era frantumata in tremila drammi individuali…”

Caption translates as: “(3)… Amidst a hell of depth charge bombs, the English miraculously managed to escape. We would face it again in September, during the action that cost us the loss of the Oceania and the Neptunia. Not until the 14 April 1942, anti-submarine vessels managed to sink the Upholder. The bow of the Conte Rosso was largely underwater; the right propeller up in the air. Some lifeboats capsized while being lowered. At this point, the Conte Rosso tragedy fractured into three thousand individual tragedies…”

One tempera on paper, pasted on mount board

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