'Steamers sunk by Turks to block river below Basra', 1915

Photograph, World War One, Mesopotamia, 1915.

A river steamer scuttled by Turkish forces on the Shatt al-Arab Waterway, near Basra, Mesopotamia (modern day Iraq). Several vessels were deliberately sunk in an attempt to disrupt the progress of Royal Navy ships and the 'Indian Expeditionary Force' that arrived in the region in November 1914.

The photograph was probably taken from on board the SS Franz Ferdinand on which the 1/5th Hampshire Howitzer Battery (Territorial Force), Royal Field Artillery sailed from Bombay to Basra in 1915.

From an album of 210 photographs compiled by Lieutenant Henry Curtis Gallup during his service with the 5th Hampshire Howitzer Battery (Territorial Force) in Mesopotamia during World War One (1914-1918), 1915-1916.

Gallup was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Territorial Force on 28 August 1914 and served in India and Mesopotamia with 1/5th Hampshire Howitzer Battery. He fought in the Battle of Shaiba in April 1915 and took part in the advance towards Baghdad, including the Battle of Es Sinn and capture of Kut in September. Gallup was subsequently held as a prisoner of war in Turkey after his capture at Kut in April 1916.