This painting shows an incident during the AE2’s running on the surface of the Sea of Marmara on 26 April 1915. The Australian submarine’s successful underwater passage of the Dardanelles completed the first part of the warship’s official mission. Now, loose in the Sea of Marmara, its task was to disrupt Turkish shipping heading for Gallipoli and to generally strike fear into Turkish mariners. During 26 April, Stoker examined a number of local fishing boats to see if they were carrying military supplies. None were, so he let them sail on. Stoker described the incident:
There were several fishing boats in sight, and, hoisting the White Ensign, we steamed up closely to them. The excitement caused was amusingly intense. With frantic gesticulations and calls on Allah the fishermen endeavoured to impress us with their harmlessness, some even holding both hands palm upwards above their heads with piteous ‘Don’t shoot’ looks on their faces. But it was well to frightened them, and let them return to their villages with tales of the immediate coming of the British Fleet; the moral effect would help. And so, in this pleasantly interesting manner, we passed the afternoon.
[H G Stoker, Straws in the Wind, London, 1925, p.126]