HMS Espiegle, 1915 (c)

Photograph, 1915 (c).

The HMS Espiegle was a twin screw sloop on the Naval East Indian Station. She was sent to the Arabian Gulf to protect British oil interests at the beginning of World War One (1914-1918). The gunboat was commanded by Wilfred Nunn who was the senior naval officer during the campaign that followed. Although outdated, the HMS Espiegle's shallow draft allowed her to operate effectively on the River Tigris and the Shatt al-Arab Waterway, and with her 4-inch guns, she outgunned the Turkish forces in the region.

From an album of 210 photographs compiled by Lieutenant Henry Curtis Gallup during service with the 5th Hampshire Howitzer Battery (Territorial Force) in Mesopotamia in 1915 and his subsequent captivity in Turkey after capture at Kut, 1915 (c)-1916 (c).