18/02/01

This is very exciting! After studying a faded postcard in my possession for about the last fifteen years, pieces are beginning to fall into place regarding the India!

As you may have read in my numerous other emails to likewise people around the world, my interest started with the loss of my Great Uncle Walter James Farrier,who was working in the Engine Room of the India when she went down, as we all know, on 8th August 1915. He did not survive and has no apparent grave.

Over the years I have collected information about the ship and her sinking, but it really has got most interesting lately, with correspondence from such places as Norway, Canada and a couple of people here in England. The Norwegian gentleman actually lives on the Island of Bodo, where the India sank, and he tells me that the island has many relics (such as lifeboats and furniture, etc) from the great ship.

The info that I have attained so far amounts to about 30 sheets or so, including two photographs of the ship in civilian pre-war service.

As a keen nautical and aviation artist, any additional information on the ship brings me nearer to being able to paint her! 

03/03/01

I'm still in the process of gathering photographic material for a painting of the India, but it looks extremely unlikely that I will ever find anything of her in her military colours and build. If I want to paint her in her military finish, I've got to find out where the guns, etc were positioned.

Mike Farrier