This oil painting (61.1 x 76.5 cm) depicts a dramatic action of 6 August, 1942. The destroyer HMCS Assiniboine was escorting a convoy some 650 kilometres east of Newfoundland when a submarine was glimpsed through fog. For more than an hour the pursuit was conducted. Sometimes the submarine was lost to view completely, but it was tracked by radar. The U-boat attempted to close with Assiniboine on the surface, coming so near that the destroyer was unable to use its main armament. The two vessels manoeuvred for another thirty- five minutes and 40-mm fire from U-210 ignited some drums of gasoline stored below the destroyer's bridge. Small-calibre guns aboard Assiniboine raked the submarine and at length a hit was scored with a 4.7-inch shell. As the U-boat began to submerge the destroyer tried ramming and delivered a glancing blow which forced the German vessel back to the surface. After a further exchange of gunfire, Assiniboine rammed the enemy again and a pattern of depth charges was added for good measure. Even this action, however, did not finish off U-210; another 4.7-inch shell was required to administer the coup de grace.
Born in Ottawa, Thomas Harold Beament (1898- ) began painting at the age of fourteen. He served with the Royal Canadian Naval Volunteer Reserve (RCNVR) as an ordinary seaman in 1917-1918 and was commissioned in 1924. Beament attained the rank of lieutenant-commander in 1936 and, when the Second World War began, was assigned sea duty on escort vessels. These included the minesweepers Star XVI and Vegreville, which he commanded in 1941-43. In June 1943 he was appointed an official war artist and while serving subsequently in Halifax and London he rose to the rank of commander the highest wartime rank secured by any of the nation's official war artists. Beament remained with the RCN until February 1947.
Courtesy: Canadian War Museum, National Museum of Man, National Museums of Canada (11033)
