1 00:00:02,279 --> 00:00:06,240 Speaker 1: Happy Saturday, everybody. After we dropped that upbeat history playlist 2 00:00:06,280 --> 00:00:09,840 Speaker 1: into our feed not long after the declaration of the 3 00:00:09,920 --> 00:00:13,440 Speaker 1: COVID nineteen pandemic, listener Emily sent us a note with 4 00:00:13,440 --> 00:00:15,920 Speaker 1: suggestions for topics to include if we decided to do 5 00:00:15,960 --> 00:00:19,600 Speaker 1: another one. We are replaying one of those topics as 6 00:00:19,640 --> 00:00:22,800 Speaker 1: our classic episode today and I love this topic. It's 7 00:00:22,880 --> 00:00:27,760 Speaker 1: dazzle camouflage and it originally came out on September. Thank 8 00:00:27,840 --> 00:00:33,480 Speaker 1: you Emily for the suggestion. Welcome to Stuff You Missed 9 00:00:33,479 --> 00:00:42,479 Speaker 1: in History Class, a production of I Heart Radio. Hello, 10 00:00:42,479 --> 00:00:44,720 Speaker 1: and welcome to the podcast. I'm colleague from and I'm 11 00:00:44,760 --> 00:00:47,240 Speaker 1: Tracy Vie Wilson, and we're going to deal a little 12 00:00:47,240 --> 00:00:50,800 Speaker 1: bit of military history today, world War One specifically, and 13 00:00:51,000 --> 00:00:56,120 Speaker 1: this particular little story combines military strategy with art and 14 00:00:56,160 --> 00:00:59,000 Speaker 1: even a little bit of a garudge match. You may 15 00:00:59,040 --> 00:01:01,280 Speaker 1: have seen photos of World War One ships painted with 16 00:01:01,320 --> 00:01:04,240 Speaker 1: what's called dazzle camouflage, and if you haven't, you are 17 00:01:04,280 --> 00:01:06,600 Speaker 1: in for such a visual treat because they look amazing. 18 00:01:06,640 --> 00:01:09,640 Speaker 1: It's all very geometric and cool. It will often show 19 00:01:09,720 --> 00:01:12,039 Speaker 1: up in lists where you know people are like, look 20 00:01:12,080 --> 00:01:17,040 Speaker 1: ten historical photos that aren't photoshopped and uh as sort 21 00:01:17,040 --> 00:01:19,520 Speaker 1: of a mind boggling why on earth is this so 22 00:01:19,600 --> 00:01:24,040 Speaker 1: amazing type of article stance? But and they are really 23 00:01:24,080 --> 00:01:26,200 Speaker 1: fabulous to look at. But most people do not know 24 00:01:26,280 --> 00:01:28,120 Speaker 1: that there is a lot more to the story than 25 00:01:28,120 --> 00:01:33,959 Speaker 1: meets the I, including some some angryness about who actually 26 00:01:33,959 --> 00:01:37,840 Speaker 1: should get attribution. There is a very popular version of 27 00:01:37,880 --> 00:01:40,720 Speaker 1: the whole Dazzle camouflage story, and that's where we are 28 00:01:40,760 --> 00:01:44,600 Speaker 1: going to start. Yeah. In v British Navy ships were 29 00:01:44,640 --> 00:01:47,360 Speaker 1: being sunk by German U boats in nothing short of 30 00:01:47,360 --> 00:01:51,400 Speaker 1: devastating numbers. It was an incredible challenge to conceal ships 31 00:01:51,400 --> 00:01:53,840 Speaker 1: on the open seas. Some of those was due to 32 00:01:53,880 --> 00:01:56,880 Speaker 1: the weather. Since the weather is constantly changing at sea, 33 00:01:57,000 --> 00:02:01,160 Speaker 1: you can't really make one camouflage that's going to effectively 34 00:02:01,240 --> 00:02:04,040 Speaker 1: disguise the ship, no matter what the conditions are like. 35 00:02:04,720 --> 00:02:07,320 Speaker 1: And another problem is that it's not just the ships, 36 00:02:07,880 --> 00:02:10,959 Speaker 1: the ship itself that gives its location away. The ship 37 00:02:11,040 --> 00:02:14,840 Speaker 1: leaves awake, there are smoke trails, all these other signals 38 00:02:15,360 --> 00:02:19,840 Speaker 1: betrayed the ship's positions. So you boats would identify their 39 00:02:19,880 --> 00:02:23,400 Speaker 1: targets and then they would plot their predicted courses. So 40 00:02:23,440 --> 00:02:26,519 Speaker 1: then after calculating the speed at which they were traveling 41 00:02:26,560 --> 00:02:30,280 Speaker 1: and confirming the ship's trajectory. It was torpedo time, so 42 00:02:30,440 --> 00:02:33,240 Speaker 1: they would aim their torpedoes into the predicted path of 43 00:02:33,280 --> 00:02:36,240 Speaker 1: the ship, and you know, the ship would intersect with 44 00:02:36,280 --> 00:02:39,520 Speaker 1: it and be sunk. And the German navy was very 45 00:02:39,639 --> 00:02:44,239 Speaker 1: good at identifying ships and predicting their movements. So, of course, 46 00:02:44,320 --> 00:02:48,000 Speaker 1: because it was facing huge losses, the British Navy wanted 47 00:02:48,040 --> 00:02:50,680 Speaker 1: nothing more than to figure out a way to thwart 48 00:02:50,720 --> 00:02:53,680 Speaker 1: the enemy and save the fleet from being attacked. But 49 00:02:53,760 --> 00:02:56,840 Speaker 1: this was really easier said than done. Even if they 50 00:02:56,919 --> 00:03:00,280 Speaker 1: could find effective camouflaged for as ships so that you 51 00:03:00,320 --> 00:03:02,960 Speaker 1: couldn't physically see it, that really only solved part of 52 00:03:02,960 --> 00:03:06,720 Speaker 1: the problem. The wake and the smoke would still give 53 00:03:06,800 --> 00:03:12,120 Speaker 1: the Germans away to target the ship. And uh, it 54 00:03:12,200 --> 00:03:14,799 Speaker 1: turns out and I love this that you know, art 55 00:03:14,840 --> 00:03:18,560 Speaker 1: came to the rescue. The man who's normally credited with 56 00:03:18,639 --> 00:03:22,160 Speaker 1: brain storring the solution to this problem was Navy lieutenant 57 00:03:22,160 --> 00:03:25,520 Speaker 1: and artist Norman Wilkinson, and he had this idea that 58 00:03:25,600 --> 00:03:28,840 Speaker 1: since they couldn't hide the ships, they could maybe at 59 00:03:28,919 --> 00:03:33,240 Speaker 1: least to do something to confuse the enemy. So his 60 00:03:33,360 --> 00:03:36,920 Speaker 1: idea was a form of disruptive camouflage, and that took 61 00:03:36,920 --> 00:03:40,840 Speaker 1: on the name dazzle camouflage. His idea was that painting 62 00:03:40,880 --> 00:03:44,400 Speaker 1: ships with wild geometric patterns would kind of bewilder the 63 00:03:44,440 --> 00:03:46,640 Speaker 1: sailors on the U boats as they tried to look 64 00:03:46,680 --> 00:03:50,000 Speaker 1: through the periscopes to find the targets. And of course 65 00:03:50,120 --> 00:03:54,000 Speaker 1: the ships would still be visible, but their disruptive geometric 66 00:03:54,080 --> 00:03:57,120 Speaker 1: paint patterns would confuse the eye so much that it 67 00:03:57,160 --> 00:04:00,480 Speaker 1: would be difficult to determine which direction the ship was facing, 68 00:04:00,840 --> 00:04:04,440 Speaker 1: what direction it was moving, and at what speed. Wilkinson 69 00:04:04,520 --> 00:04:06,920 Speaker 1: was given a ship to paint as a proof of concept, 70 00:04:07,000 --> 00:04:09,520 Speaker 1: and before long there were lots more ships being painted 71 00:04:09,560 --> 00:04:12,960 Speaker 1: with wild designs as well. There were hundreds of different 72 00:04:12,960 --> 00:04:16,359 Speaker 1: geometric schemes that were laid out for painting ships, and 73 00:04:16,440 --> 00:04:18,960 Speaker 1: each one was meant to trick the eye with one 74 00:04:19,120 --> 00:04:23,000 Speaker 1: or more optical illusions. Yeah. In some cases, curves along 75 00:04:23,000 --> 00:04:25,520 Speaker 1: the sides of the ships would be painted to create 76 00:04:25,640 --> 00:04:28,880 Speaker 1: sort of false wave patterns that kind of mirrored the 77 00:04:28,920 --> 00:04:31,120 Speaker 1: wake that was going in the opposite direction, so it 78 00:04:31,160 --> 00:04:33,039 Speaker 1: was a duplicate, but they were going in both directions, 79 00:04:33,040 --> 00:04:35,000 Speaker 1: so it was hard to know what was actually happening. 80 00:04:35,720 --> 00:04:39,200 Speaker 1: The smoke stacks were painted with tilted and asymmetrical bands 81 00:04:39,240 --> 00:04:41,760 Speaker 1: of color to make it look like the ship might 82 00:04:41,800 --> 00:04:45,440 Speaker 1: be going the opposite way than it actually was. Diagonal 83 00:04:45,520 --> 00:04:48,600 Speaker 1: lines were often painted in bright colors at either end 84 00:04:48,640 --> 00:04:50,800 Speaker 1: of the ship to make it difficult to discern the 85 00:04:51,000 --> 00:04:53,960 Speaker 1: four from the aft. Some of the ships were painted 86 00:04:54,000 --> 00:04:56,839 Speaker 1: in schemes of stripes that went in all different directions 87 00:04:56,880 --> 00:05:00,680 Speaker 1: and used a multitude of colors, and these basic tried 88 00:05:00,720 --> 00:05:03,680 Speaker 1: to prevent an observer from getting his bearings on exactly 89 00:05:03,760 --> 00:05:05,800 Speaker 1: what he was looking at. I feel like these were 90 00:05:05,880 --> 00:05:09,680 Speaker 1: colossally huge magic eye paintings. Yeah, I mean it's not 91 00:05:10,160 --> 00:05:12,640 Speaker 1: dissimilar from that. It really is just sort of so 92 00:05:12,760 --> 00:05:16,000 Speaker 1: much information thrown at your your eyes that you can't 93 00:05:16,040 --> 00:05:18,920 Speaker 1: really discern kind of what you're looking at. You stand 94 00:05:18,920 --> 00:05:21,599 Speaker 1: back and cross your eyes. I'm so good at magic eyes. 95 00:05:21,640 --> 00:05:25,840 Speaker 1: That's like my superpower. But before we get to an 96 00:05:25,880 --> 00:05:28,279 Speaker 1: alternate version of this story, do you want to pause 97 00:05:28,320 --> 00:05:39,360 Speaker 1: for a moment for a word from our sponsor. So, 98 00:05:39,440 --> 00:05:41,840 Speaker 1: now back to what was going on actually a few 99 00:05:41,920 --> 00:05:46,520 Speaker 1: years before Wilkinson. So, Wilkinson is often credited with the 100 00:05:46,560 --> 00:05:50,320 Speaker 1: idea of applying dazzle camo to ships. But the concept 101 00:05:50,360 --> 00:05:54,120 Speaker 1: had actually been floated several years prior by a man 102 00:05:54,200 --> 00:05:58,120 Speaker 1: who was named John Graham Care, and Care was a naturalist. 103 00:05:58,520 --> 00:06:02,000 Speaker 1: He actually made his name in lungfish embryology, so nothing 104 00:06:02,000 --> 00:06:05,080 Speaker 1: having to do with ships. But several years before Wilkinson 105 00:06:05,240 --> 00:06:09,200 Speaker 1: entered the picture as a proponent of disruptive camouflage, Ker 106 00:06:09,279 --> 00:06:12,320 Speaker 1: had approached the Admiralty with the idea because of all 107 00:06:12,400 --> 00:06:15,960 Speaker 1: his work as a naturalist, Care had witnessed firsthand the 108 00:06:16,040 --> 00:06:20,880 Speaker 1: success of naturally occurring disruptive coloration and animals so many 109 00:06:20,960 --> 00:06:23,880 Speaker 1: many years before World War One, when he was traveling 110 00:06:23,920 --> 00:06:28,600 Speaker 1: on an expedition in South America in he noted quote 111 00:06:28,680 --> 00:06:32,640 Speaker 1: obliterative coloring on many of the animals that he observed, 112 00:06:32,720 --> 00:06:35,840 Speaker 1: and he made these notes repeatedly in his field journals. 113 00:06:36,160 --> 00:06:39,160 Speaker 1: He was clearly really, really fascinated by it, and uh 114 00:06:39,200 --> 00:06:42,440 Speaker 1: in nineteen o two he became the Chair of Zoology, 115 00:06:42,480 --> 00:06:44,640 Speaker 1: although when he initially took the chair it was called 116 00:06:44,640 --> 00:06:47,200 Speaker 1: the Chair of Natural History and then changed the next 117 00:06:47,320 --> 00:06:51,000 Speaker 1: year at the University of Glasgow, and throughout his career, 118 00:06:51,120 --> 00:06:54,240 Speaker 1: even while he was working on his embryology projects, he 119 00:06:54,320 --> 00:06:57,400 Speaker 1: continued to study animal coloration sort of, it's just a 120 00:06:57,480 --> 00:07:01,360 Speaker 1: side interest. While as day jo job was all about zoology. 121 00:07:01,480 --> 00:07:05,120 Speaker 1: Care was also an avid yachtsman, and according to maritime 122 00:07:05,160 --> 00:07:09,120 Speaker 1: historians Hugh Murphy and Martin Bellamy, while Kerr was visiting 123 00:07:09,480 --> 00:07:14,240 Speaker 1: the opening of the Keel Canal in Germany, in the 124 00:07:14,400 --> 00:07:18,680 Speaker 1: contrast he noted between the monochromatic French and German vessels 125 00:07:19,040 --> 00:07:22,080 Speaker 1: and the multi color British ships got his mind thinking 126 00:07:22,120 --> 00:07:26,200 Speaker 1: about how you could apply obliterative coloring to a ship. 127 00:07:27,480 --> 00:07:31,040 Speaker 1: Even before Care there was an American artist named Abbott H. 128 00:07:31,240 --> 00:07:34,760 Speaker 1: Thayer who was also working on concealing coloration through the 129 00:07:34,840 --> 00:07:37,360 Speaker 1: use of counter shading, and he was doing that as 130 00:07:37,400 --> 00:07:40,640 Speaker 1: early as the Spanish American War in the late eighteen nineties. 131 00:07:41,240 --> 00:07:43,960 Speaker 1: And what that means is that darker colors would be 132 00:07:44,080 --> 00:07:46,440 Speaker 1: painted on the top of a vessel to counteract the 133 00:07:46,440 --> 00:07:49,440 Speaker 1: reflection of the sun, and then lighter colors would be 134 00:07:49,480 --> 00:07:52,120 Speaker 1: near the bottom and they would sort of be banded 135 00:07:52,120 --> 00:07:55,560 Speaker 1: in like a hardline ingradient. Care and they are actually 136 00:07:55,640 --> 00:07:58,440 Speaker 1: knew each other and they talked about their different ideas 137 00:07:58,440 --> 00:08:00,600 Speaker 1: and points of view on how to best to conceal 138 00:08:00,760 --> 00:08:03,840 Speaker 1: a large object through the deliberate use of paint color, 139 00:08:04,880 --> 00:08:09,320 Speaker 1: and September en was a particularly devastating time for the 140 00:08:09,320 --> 00:08:12,640 Speaker 1: British Navy. Uh In the course of just a few weeks, 141 00:08:12,720 --> 00:08:16,920 Speaker 1: German U boats sank the HMS Pathfinder, and then on 142 00:08:16,960 --> 00:08:19,800 Speaker 1: the same day a little bit later, the HMS Abuquir, 143 00:08:19,960 --> 00:08:23,880 Speaker 1: the HMS Hogue and the HMS Crescy, and on September 144 00:08:25,040 --> 00:08:27,920 Speaker 1: after all of these had taken place, Ker wrote Winston 145 00:08:28,000 --> 00:08:31,360 Speaker 1: Churchill a letter outlining three different ideas that he had 146 00:08:31,400 --> 00:08:36,320 Speaker 1: for camouflaging ships. The first method involved color matching the habitat, 147 00:08:36,880 --> 00:08:38,679 Speaker 1: but he also not that this was really a lot 148 00:08:38,720 --> 00:08:42,400 Speaker 1: better for small animals than large ships. And the second 149 00:08:42,400 --> 00:08:45,080 Speaker 1: approach that he mentioned was more in line with some 150 00:08:45,120 --> 00:08:48,400 Speaker 1: of the ideas that Thayer had had, although Care called 151 00:08:48,400 --> 00:08:52,439 Speaker 1: it compensation shading, and he basically described a gradient painting 152 00:08:52,440 --> 00:08:55,920 Speaker 1: technique that involved coloring the darkest and most shadowed parts 153 00:08:55,960 --> 00:08:58,840 Speaker 1: of the ship's bright white, and then the areas that 154 00:08:58,880 --> 00:09:02,120 Speaker 1: were exposed to the most light being painted the darkest 155 00:09:02,160 --> 00:09:05,880 Speaker 1: shades of gray, effectively creating sort of a monochromatic blob 156 00:09:05,960 --> 00:09:08,320 Speaker 1: that had no visible detailing, at least if you were 157 00:09:08,360 --> 00:09:11,880 Speaker 1: looking at it through a periscope. The third method outlined 158 00:09:11,920 --> 00:09:15,600 Speaker 1: and Cares letter to Churchill describes a paint application similar 159 00:09:15,679 --> 00:09:19,040 Speaker 1: to the dazzle coloring that Norman Wilkinson is associated with. 160 00:09:19,520 --> 00:09:23,560 Speaker 1: He described this idea of party coloring in the following way. 161 00:09:24,080 --> 00:09:27,160 Speaker 1: It is essential to break up the regularity of the outline, 162 00:09:27,240 --> 00:09:32,040 Speaker 1: and this can easily be affected by strongly contrasting contrasting shades. 163 00:09:32,480 --> 00:09:36,120 Speaker 1: The same applies to the surface. Generally, a continuous uniform 164 00:09:36,160 --> 00:09:40,280 Speaker 1: shade renders conspicuous. This can be counteracted by breaking up 165 00:09:40,280 --> 00:09:45,080 Speaker 1: the surface by violent, violently contrasting pigments. A giraffe or 166 00:09:45,160 --> 00:09:49,360 Speaker 1: zebra or jaguar looks extraordinarily conspicuous in a museum, but 167 00:09:49,440 --> 00:09:53,000 Speaker 1: in nature, when not moving, is wonderfully difficult to pick up, 168 00:09:53,120 --> 00:09:56,839 Speaker 1: especially at twilight. The same principle should be made use 169 00:09:56,880 --> 00:09:59,960 Speaker 1: of in painting ships. I had to kind of chuckled 170 00:10:00,000 --> 00:10:03,120 Speaker 1: of myself when I was reading that initially that he 171 00:10:03,320 --> 00:10:08,000 Speaker 1: only placed animals in museums like, not in any sort 172 00:10:08,000 --> 00:10:11,520 Speaker 1: of live viewing enclosure like a zoo. At the time time, 173 00:10:11,640 --> 00:10:14,840 Speaker 1: it just maybe chuckle as an aside. Uh Care very 174 00:10:14,840 --> 00:10:18,000 Speaker 1: specifically described the need to break up the continuity of 175 00:10:18,000 --> 00:10:22,280 Speaker 1: a ship's outline with these high contrasting white shapes UH 176 00:10:22,360 --> 00:10:26,920 Speaker 1: including masts with the irregular banding of white striping. This 177 00:10:27,160 --> 00:10:30,400 Speaker 1: letter was actually well received, Kara gotta thank you note 178 00:10:30,480 --> 00:10:33,760 Speaker 1: and the assurance that this information and ideas would be 179 00:10:34,080 --> 00:10:36,680 Speaker 1: shared with the rest of the fleet, and they were indeed. 180 00:10:37,040 --> 00:10:40,560 Speaker 1: In fact, the contents of Care's letter were included verbatim 181 00:10:40,600 --> 00:10:43,280 Speaker 1: as part of a general order issued on November tenth 182 00:10:43,320 --> 00:10:46,080 Speaker 1: of that same year. The order, which went out with 183 00:10:46,080 --> 00:10:50,280 Speaker 1: the title Visibility of Ships Method of Diminishing, went out 184 00:10:50,320 --> 00:10:53,040 Speaker 1: with the instructions that the use of the information included 185 00:10:53,120 --> 00:10:56,559 Speaker 1: was at the discretion of the officers on their various commands, 186 00:10:56,920 --> 00:10:59,520 Speaker 1: and several of them did opt to try these ideas out. 187 00:11:00,400 --> 00:11:03,200 Speaker 1: It was through a personal connection that John Graham Care 188 00:11:03,400 --> 00:11:07,160 Speaker 1: found out his camouflage concepts were actually being put into use. 189 00:11:07,679 --> 00:11:10,480 Speaker 1: A former pupil of his was serving on the HMS 190 00:11:10,559 --> 00:11:13,920 Speaker 1: Implacable and wrote Care a letter telling him that everyone 191 00:11:14,000 --> 00:11:16,679 Speaker 1: on all levels of naval service agreed that these were 192 00:11:16,679 --> 00:11:19,920 Speaker 1: good ideas, and that the student had seen another ship 193 00:11:20,320 --> 00:11:23,680 Speaker 1: employing the disruptive painting style. And I would just like 194 00:11:23,800 --> 00:11:26,120 Speaker 1: to have a side note that I love that there's 195 00:11:26,160 --> 00:11:30,920 Speaker 1: a ship called the HMS implacable is pretty charming. Exactly 196 00:11:30,920 --> 00:11:34,319 Speaker 1: how many ships ended up adopting this disruptive painting technique 197 00:11:34,640 --> 00:11:37,640 Speaker 1: that was based on Cares instructions is really pretty hazy. 198 00:11:38,440 --> 00:11:41,679 Speaker 1: Since the practice was at the discretion of individual commands, 199 00:11:41,880 --> 00:11:44,800 Speaker 1: there really wasn't a system in place to account for 200 00:11:44,880 --> 00:11:47,080 Speaker 1: its usage, like nobody had to report in that they 201 00:11:47,080 --> 00:11:50,480 Speaker 1: had painted their ship this way. And additionally, there's evidence 202 00:11:50,520 --> 00:11:53,560 Speaker 1: that some crews were actually using very similar techniques on 203 00:11:53,600 --> 00:11:57,439 Speaker 1: their own prior to the general order on visibility of ships. 204 00:11:57,880 --> 00:12:00,520 Speaker 1: As more and more ships started to adopt the whole 205 00:12:00,559 --> 00:12:03,959 Speaker 1: party color paint schemes, Care was actually able to see 206 00:12:04,000 --> 00:12:07,520 Speaker 1: some of them. He wasn't exactly delighted, though. He really 207 00:12:07,559 --> 00:12:10,359 Speaker 1: felt that the spirit was there, but the actual execution 208 00:12:10,520 --> 00:12:12,880 Speaker 1: was not quite what he had in mind. So in 209 00:12:12,960 --> 00:12:16,360 Speaker 1: nineteen fifteen he wrote another letter to the Admiralty, and 210 00:12:16,440 --> 00:12:20,079 Speaker 1: this time he suggested that these new camouflage paint jobs 211 00:12:20,280 --> 00:12:22,800 Speaker 1: could be even better with a bit of guidance and 212 00:12:22,840 --> 00:12:26,360 Speaker 1: advice from him. He got no reply, so he wrote 213 00:12:26,400 --> 00:12:30,280 Speaker 1: again and again, only to learn that Churchill had moved 214 00:12:30,280 --> 00:12:32,240 Speaker 1: on to a new post. And then he wrote to 215 00:12:32,400 --> 00:12:37,320 Speaker 1: Churchill's successor Arthur Balfour. Yeah, he was big on writing 216 00:12:37,400 --> 00:12:41,640 Speaker 1: the letters. I feel like this is like when the 217 00:12:41,679 --> 00:12:46,000 Speaker 1: person writes does with like really really pedantic something, and 218 00:12:46,040 --> 00:12:49,000 Speaker 1: we answer back and then the person just keeps writing 219 00:12:49,040 --> 00:12:55,319 Speaker 1: it again and I'm like, please I stop. Well, initially 220 00:12:55,320 --> 00:12:57,720 Speaker 1: he wasn't getting a reply, but he really felt like 221 00:12:58,160 --> 00:12:59,800 Speaker 1: they needed to listen to him and let him help 222 00:12:59,840 --> 00:13:02,480 Speaker 1: some more. Uh, and all of this writing kind of 223 00:13:02,480 --> 00:13:05,800 Speaker 1: fell on deaf ears. He finally received a polite thanks 224 00:13:05,800 --> 00:13:08,840 Speaker 1: but no thanks style letter informing him that there had 225 00:13:08,840 --> 00:13:10,959 Speaker 1: actually been a decision made that they were going to 226 00:13:11,040 --> 00:13:13,079 Speaker 1: go back to painting all of the ships a uniform 227 00:13:13,120 --> 00:13:16,400 Speaker 1: gray and stop all this crazy color variations. I have 228 00:13:16,480 --> 00:13:21,000 Speaker 1: a feeling this just disturbed him immensely, which it's probably 229 00:13:21,040 --> 00:13:23,600 Speaker 1: carried out by the fact that then he redoubled his efforts. 230 00:13:24,080 --> 00:13:27,480 Speaker 1: He wrote some multiple office officers of the military, he 231 00:13:27,520 --> 00:13:30,680 Speaker 1: wrote to his friends in academia, to anybody he knew 232 00:13:30,720 --> 00:13:33,960 Speaker 1: who had any connection to the Admiralty. So when Abbott 233 00:13:34,000 --> 00:13:36,840 Speaker 1: Thayer was visiting from the US, he wrote the Admiralty 234 00:13:37,000 --> 00:13:39,600 Speaker 1: again and begged for a meeting so both he and 235 00:13:39,640 --> 00:13:43,280 Speaker 1: theyer could share their information. All of those roads led 236 00:13:43,320 --> 00:13:47,120 Speaker 1: to dead ends. Yeah, he really didn't. They kind of 237 00:13:48,080 --> 00:13:51,640 Speaker 1: uh just went nowhere. He did allegedly have some luck. 238 00:13:51,720 --> 00:13:56,359 Speaker 1: He also wrote about someone else about camouflage on airplanes 239 00:13:57,120 --> 00:14:00,599 Speaker 1: and got some ground there, but no nothing with the 240 00:14:00,640 --> 00:14:08,599 Speaker 1: ships ever again. So when the decision was made to 241 00:14:08,640 --> 00:14:13,079 Speaker 1: adopt Wilkinson's dazzle coloring in n it was much more 242 00:14:13,200 --> 00:14:16,400 Speaker 1: organized than previously. So instead of leaving it up to 243 00:14:16,440 --> 00:14:20,040 Speaker 1: each individual command to adopt some kind of geometric camouflage, 244 00:14:20,120 --> 00:14:23,360 Speaker 1: this time it was a uniform order. And in addition 245 00:14:23,360 --> 00:14:25,920 Speaker 1: to the order, Wilkinson was actually put in charge of 246 00:14:25,960 --> 00:14:29,840 Speaker 1: a new Dazzle department, and as a consequence, while he 247 00:14:29,920 --> 00:14:33,160 Speaker 1: was heading that department, approximately four thousand merchant ships and 248 00:14:33,240 --> 00:14:36,440 Speaker 1: four hundred navy vessels were painted in this manner to 249 00:14:36,480 --> 00:14:40,560 Speaker 1: try to avoid uh U boat attacks. For his part, 250 00:14:40,640 --> 00:14:42,920 Speaker 1: care stated publicly that he was happy to see the 251 00:14:42,920 --> 00:14:47,400 Speaker 1: camouflage scheme being implemented, but he also enlisted the assistance 252 00:14:47,440 --> 00:14:51,080 Speaker 1: of fellow academics to once again contact the Admiralty and 253 00:14:51,120 --> 00:14:53,960 Speaker 1: suggest that he, being the only man who had years 254 00:14:53,960 --> 00:14:56,840 Speaker 1: of study of this type of visual disruption, should be 255 00:14:56,840 --> 00:15:01,320 Speaker 1: advising them on it. I sound weary because because you 256 00:15:01,360 --> 00:15:04,520 Speaker 1: can imagine getting like seventeen letters in this same guy 257 00:15:04,600 --> 00:15:08,360 Speaker 1: that because we do get seventeen letters from the same life. Yeah, 258 00:15:08,360 --> 00:15:10,720 Speaker 1: where it's like you're doing it wrong, you can just 259 00:15:11,000 --> 00:15:13,680 Speaker 1: you can just contact me the next time you want 260 00:15:13,760 --> 00:15:16,200 Speaker 1: to do a podcast on Paraguay and I will help 261 00:15:16,200 --> 00:15:18,880 Speaker 1: you out, which is awesome. I mean, we certainly appreciate 262 00:15:18,880 --> 00:15:21,560 Speaker 1: when people want to be helpful. It's the doggedly non 263 00:15:21,680 --> 00:15:24,400 Speaker 1: letting go of it, yeah, which happens, not just to 264 00:15:24,560 --> 00:15:26,560 Speaker 1: I mean in life. That happens. It's like when you 265 00:15:26,600 --> 00:15:30,000 Speaker 1: have a relative who is like, hey, you can sow. 266 00:15:30,120 --> 00:15:32,120 Speaker 1: Will you make me some pants, And it's like, I 267 00:15:32,120 --> 00:15:34,120 Speaker 1: don't really have time for them. Oh, it would be 268 00:15:34,120 --> 00:15:36,280 Speaker 1: great if you'd make me some pants. You know you 269 00:15:36,320 --> 00:15:38,240 Speaker 1: need pants. I'll tell you how to make them, like 270 00:15:38,600 --> 00:15:40,760 Speaker 1: I've had those. I'm sure you've had similar When people 271 00:15:40,760 --> 00:15:42,760 Speaker 1: know you can sow, there's a point where you have 272 00:15:42,840 --> 00:15:46,480 Speaker 1: received the information and saying it more. Doesn't I understand 273 00:15:46,520 --> 00:15:48,720 Speaker 1: you want some pants. I am not giving them to you. 274 00:15:49,240 --> 00:15:53,720 Speaker 1: It's similar. So care probably wor some people down. Um, 275 00:15:53,760 --> 00:15:58,680 Speaker 1: but the military really felt even though Kier made his 276 00:15:58,720 --> 00:16:01,960 Speaker 1: case over and over, the designers that they had put 277 00:16:02,000 --> 00:16:04,240 Speaker 1: in charge of dazzle camouflage, so they came from a 278 00:16:04,240 --> 00:16:08,440 Speaker 1: design background rather than a natural sciences background, had things 279 00:16:08,440 --> 00:16:10,600 Speaker 1: well in hand. They felt like they had it covered 280 00:16:11,040 --> 00:16:14,000 Speaker 1: and eventually Care gave up on trying to be involved 281 00:16:14,240 --> 00:16:17,280 Speaker 1: in the process as an advisor and he did stop writing. 282 00:16:18,560 --> 00:16:21,480 Speaker 1: While Care gave up on trying to offer his assistance, 283 00:16:21,520 --> 00:16:24,280 Speaker 1: he did remain quite irritated that Wilkinson got all the 284 00:16:24,320 --> 00:16:27,840 Speaker 1: credit for what he felt like was his idea from 285 00:16:27,920 --> 00:16:31,040 Speaker 1: years prior. It became a big issue between the two men. 286 00:16:32,080 --> 00:16:35,120 Speaker 1: Uh yeah. Wilkinson's claim was that his designs had nothing 287 00:16:35,120 --> 00:16:37,520 Speaker 1: to do with biology or nature and that Care just 288 00:16:37,640 --> 00:16:42,200 Speaker 1: simply did not understand the visual principles that his approach employed. 289 00:16:43,280 --> 00:16:45,520 Speaker 1: That he was working from a design background, this is 290 00:16:45,560 --> 00:16:48,920 Speaker 1: not about replicating nature, and Care's counter argument was that 291 00:16:48,920 --> 00:16:52,440 Speaker 1: Wilkinson could not have invented dazzle camouflage because no man 292 00:16:52,560 --> 00:16:56,240 Speaker 1: could have invented dazzle camouflage, because they were merely replicating 293 00:16:56,280 --> 00:17:00,880 Speaker 1: what existed in nature already. I raised my eyebrows. I 294 00:17:00,960 --> 00:17:02,880 Speaker 1: know my heart goes out to him, but I just 295 00:17:06,560 --> 00:17:08,359 Speaker 1: if he were alive today, he would just be leaving 296 00:17:08,359 --> 00:17:11,359 Speaker 1: comments all over the internet. Yes, he would be an 297 00:17:11,400 --> 00:17:14,000 Speaker 1: Internet commenter for sure, Care even went back to his 298 00:17:14,040 --> 00:17:18,040 Speaker 1: favorite addresses of corresponds to a correspondence Winston Churchill to 299 00:17:18,080 --> 00:17:20,399 Speaker 1: try to convince him that he should make sure people 300 00:17:20,480 --> 00:17:24,919 Speaker 1: understood their correspondence of n Yeah, he wanted Churchill to 301 00:17:24,920 --> 00:17:26,199 Speaker 1: come out and say, oh, no, I did talk to 302 00:17:26,240 --> 00:17:30,960 Speaker 1: this guy. He had this idea before. But eventually what 303 00:17:31,040 --> 00:17:33,680 Speaker 1: happened was that a Committee of Inquiry was established to 304 00:17:33,760 --> 00:17:37,399 Speaker 1: investigate the competing claims. And it's unclear whether Churchill had 305 00:17:37,440 --> 00:17:39,359 Speaker 1: anything to do with that or not, or if people 306 00:17:39,359 --> 00:17:41,359 Speaker 1: were just so tired of getting letters from Care that 307 00:17:41,440 --> 00:17:43,040 Speaker 1: they were like, we have to figure out some way 308 00:17:43,040 --> 00:17:47,840 Speaker 1: to resolve this um. But the committee, because Cares to work, 309 00:17:47,920 --> 00:17:50,280 Speaker 1: was based in nature. It seemed that they really felt 310 00:17:50,280 --> 00:17:52,159 Speaker 1: that his end goal for the paint scheme must have 311 00:17:52,200 --> 00:17:57,280 Speaker 1: been invisibility, because to them, camouflage and nature is about hiding, 312 00:17:58,280 --> 00:18:00,520 Speaker 1: even though a lot of Care's right on the matter 313 00:18:00,600 --> 00:18:03,800 Speaker 1: clearly states that he felt that invisibly invisibility was going 314 00:18:03,840 --> 00:18:08,000 Speaker 1: to be impossible, whereas they felt that Wilkinson's approach was 315 00:18:08,040 --> 00:18:14,200 Speaker 1: geared towards distortion and uh. The committee basically favored Wilkinson 316 00:18:14,240 --> 00:18:16,679 Speaker 1: and their findings and it was still not over. No, 317 00:18:17,640 --> 00:18:20,879 Speaker 1: it's never over. Care took his claim next to the 318 00:18:20,960 --> 00:18:24,200 Speaker 1: Royal Commission on Awards and Inventors, and while Care took 319 00:18:24,280 --> 00:18:29,120 Speaker 1: great pains to assemble an extremely thorough brief filled with evidence, 320 00:18:29,440 --> 00:18:32,640 Speaker 1: the Commission found in favor of Wilkinson again in ninety two, 321 00:18:33,200 --> 00:18:37,280 Speaker 1: and this decision was based almost entirely on Wilkinson's testimony 322 00:18:37,359 --> 00:18:39,960 Speaker 1: that he had no prior knowledge of ships painted to 323 00:18:40,040 --> 00:18:44,520 Speaker 1: care specifications, although Care and his lawyer continued to assert 324 00:18:44,640 --> 00:18:47,639 Speaker 1: that the statement was completely false. Yeah, there was some 325 00:18:47,760 --> 00:18:51,359 Speaker 1: evidence that Wilkinson had been in places where ships that 326 00:18:51,400 --> 00:18:55,600 Speaker 1: were painted with the designs that Care had suggested were 327 00:18:55,640 --> 00:18:57,679 Speaker 1: and that he would have been basically blind to have 328 00:18:57,760 --> 00:19:01,679 Speaker 1: not seen them. Um, but even so, just by virtue 329 00:19:01,680 --> 00:19:04,919 Speaker 1: of saying nope, I never saw those before Wilkinson went 330 00:19:04,960 --> 00:19:07,280 Speaker 1: out in the end. But what really sort of makes 331 00:19:07,280 --> 00:19:12,120 Speaker 1: it all kind of funny to me in a morose 332 00:19:12,160 --> 00:19:15,199 Speaker 1: sort of comedy, is that it really didn't matter who 333 00:19:15,280 --> 00:19:17,479 Speaker 1: came up with the idea, because a study of the 334 00:19:17,480 --> 00:19:22,360 Speaker 1: efficacy of dazzle camouflage that was conducted in nine determined 335 00:19:22,359 --> 00:19:25,920 Speaker 1: that it really had no measurable impact on evading attack. 336 00:19:25,960 --> 00:19:29,120 Speaker 1: It really didn't help in terms of military strategy, and 337 00:19:29,160 --> 00:19:32,040 Speaker 1: that it's the greatest benefit was that it had probably 338 00:19:32,080 --> 00:19:35,120 Speaker 1: just raised the spirits and morale of the men, which 339 00:19:35,160 --> 00:19:37,560 Speaker 1: there's something to be said for that, But in terms 340 00:19:37,560 --> 00:19:40,240 Speaker 1: of like claiming it as an invention, they were fighting 341 00:19:40,240 --> 00:19:43,199 Speaker 1: over nothing, basically. Yeah. Well, and I think part of 342 00:19:43,240 --> 00:19:47,439 Speaker 1: the reason that he irritates me so profoundly is that 343 00:19:47,520 --> 00:19:51,560 Speaker 1: he reminds me of younger me, who would just doggedly 344 00:19:51,720 --> 00:19:55,399 Speaker 1: pursue a matter of principle that did not actually matter. 345 00:19:55,760 --> 00:20:00,080 Speaker 1: Oh yeah, much that. But but you are wrong, and 346 00:20:00,119 --> 00:20:04,040 Speaker 1: I am right. Why don't you understand this? Yeah, And 347 00:20:04,080 --> 00:20:06,120 Speaker 1: that was the thing. He didn't really want money out 348 00:20:06,119 --> 00:20:08,359 Speaker 1: of it. He did have to make a financial claim 349 00:20:08,520 --> 00:20:12,080 Speaker 1: in that second committee hearing like he had to make 350 00:20:12,080 --> 00:20:14,320 Speaker 1: a claim that he needed something out of it, but 351 00:20:14,400 --> 00:20:16,720 Speaker 1: really he didn't want any money. He just wanted people 352 00:20:16,760 --> 00:20:20,880 Speaker 1: to acknowledge that it was his idea. And really there 353 00:20:20,880 --> 00:20:23,760 Speaker 1: had actually been cases of ships, like I said, that 354 00:20:23,840 --> 00:20:26,679 Speaker 1: had been painted like that even before him, some of 355 00:20:26,680 --> 00:20:29,600 Speaker 1: which kind of happened just accidentally because the ships were 356 00:20:29,640 --> 00:20:33,080 Speaker 1: being repainted and paint was flaking off, they had started 357 00:20:33,080 --> 00:20:35,880 Speaker 1: to kind of accidentally do some of that and then thought, oh, 358 00:20:35,920 --> 00:20:37,800 Speaker 1: that might be interesting and they would continue it. So 359 00:20:38,600 --> 00:20:41,680 Speaker 1: he was. They were just fighting over nothing. Well, and 360 00:20:41,720 --> 00:20:44,320 Speaker 1: as we have talked about frequently, anytime there has been 361 00:20:44,359 --> 00:20:51,040 Speaker 1: science or invention in the podcast, almost always progress. Its 362 00:20:51,520 --> 00:20:54,280 Speaker 1: developments build on the things that happened before them. They 363 00:20:54,280 --> 00:20:56,640 Speaker 1: don't come out of thin air. Yeah, there are very 364 00:20:56,680 --> 00:20:59,439 Speaker 1: few true Eureka moments where someone just thinks of something 365 00:20:59,520 --> 00:21:04,920 Speaker 1: no one has ever thought of before. Um. Earlier this year, 366 00:21:05,400 --> 00:21:09,360 Speaker 1: German artist to Bias rend Burger and Venezuelan artist Carlos 367 00:21:09,400 --> 00:21:13,200 Speaker 1: Cruise Diaz were actually commissioned by the Liverpool Biennial Tate 368 00:21:13,240 --> 00:21:16,600 Speaker 1: Liverpool in the World War One Centenary arts organization called 369 00:21:16,640 --> 00:21:21,320 Speaker 1: fourteen eighteen Now to recreate dazzle camouflage designs on several 370 00:21:21,400 --> 00:21:24,639 Speaker 1: ships and the work that these artists were commissioned to 371 00:21:24,680 --> 00:21:26,960 Speaker 1: do as part of a series of events marking the 372 00:21:27,040 --> 00:21:30,440 Speaker 1: hundred year anniversary of the start of the war. Rend 373 00:21:30,480 --> 00:21:33,600 Speaker 1: Berger painted the HMS President, which was a two hundred 374 00:21:33,640 --> 00:21:36,959 Speaker 1: and sixty five foot Flower class sloop originally named the 375 00:21:37,160 --> 00:21:41,840 Speaker 1: HMS Saxifrage and built in nineteen eighteen for anti sub warfare. 376 00:21:42,400 --> 00:21:45,400 Speaker 1: The President is permanently kept in London and was painted 377 00:21:45,400 --> 00:21:48,439 Speaker 1: with down with dazzle camouflage during World War One. I 378 00:21:48,520 --> 00:21:51,520 Speaker 1: love that there is such thing as a flower class sloop, 379 00:21:52,000 --> 00:21:55,760 Speaker 1: and I particularly love that it was named the Saxifrage. Yeah, 380 00:21:55,880 --> 00:21:59,199 Speaker 1: that's this. Those are both fun words to associate with ships. 381 00:22:00,359 --> 00:22:03,359 Speaker 1: Uh remb Burger's painting turned the ship into a really 382 00:22:03,920 --> 00:22:06,800 Speaker 1: fabulous optical illusion, so that it looked like piles of 383 00:22:06,840 --> 00:22:11,719 Speaker 1: almost eschuresque kind of modern pipe works. Um And he 384 00:22:11,760 --> 00:22:14,360 Speaker 1: was actually a perfect choice for this project because he 385 00:22:14,680 --> 00:22:18,159 Speaker 1: uh In interviews, he commented that he had discovered or 386 00:22:18,160 --> 00:22:21,560 Speaker 1: found out about dazzle camouflage like twenty years ago, and 387 00:22:21,560 --> 00:22:23,880 Speaker 1: it's just been fascinated with it ever since, so much 388 00:22:23,920 --> 00:22:27,119 Speaker 1: so that in two thousand nine he actually when he 389 00:22:27,200 --> 00:22:30,760 Speaker 1: was commissioned to design this cafe. He based the entire 390 00:22:30,800 --> 00:22:35,399 Speaker 1: design on the principles of dazzled design and visual confusion, 391 00:22:36,000 --> 00:22:38,960 Speaker 1: which may or may not make for um a fun 392 00:22:39,000 --> 00:22:42,840 Speaker 1: dining experience. If you like visual stimulation, it's probably super 393 00:22:42,840 --> 00:22:47,280 Speaker 1: fun and Liverpool Cruise. Diaz worked on the Edmund Gardner. 394 00:22:48,240 --> 00:22:51,680 Speaker 1: This one is more basic but still visually stimulating design, 395 00:22:52,119 --> 00:22:56,040 Speaker 1: consisting of red, yellow, black and green striping. Yeah, it's 396 00:22:56,280 --> 00:22:58,680 Speaker 1: In one of the links in the show notes that 397 00:22:58,720 --> 00:23:01,879 Speaker 1: will have it, Um, they have a time lapse of 398 00:23:02,840 --> 00:23:05,960 Speaker 1: the Edmund Gardner being painted, and it's kind of wonderful 399 00:23:05,960 --> 00:23:08,000 Speaker 1: because it goes from being a flat kind of Matt 400 00:23:08,080 --> 00:23:12,480 Speaker 1: gray looking like this really wonderful rasta adventure ship because 401 00:23:12,520 --> 00:23:15,639 Speaker 1: of the colors that he chose. And we'll pen stuff 402 00:23:15,680 --> 00:23:17,320 Speaker 1: up on our Pinterest so you can see what these 403 00:23:17,359 --> 00:23:18,840 Speaker 1: look like. Oh yeah, Pinterest is going to be a 404 00:23:18,880 --> 00:23:21,520 Speaker 1: busy place with the Dazzle because there's a lot of 405 00:23:21,520 --> 00:23:24,000 Speaker 1: good pictures of dazzle right now. It's really busy in 406 00:23:24,040 --> 00:23:27,480 Speaker 1: our unearthed board because there's just been a lot going 407 00:23:27,520 --> 00:23:30,440 Speaker 1: on in the unearthing in the last few weeks. There 408 00:23:30,480 --> 00:23:33,199 Speaker 1: always is, but it's been a really high concentration of 409 00:23:33,200 --> 00:23:42,880 Speaker 1: fascinating things being pulled it on, which is great. Thank 410 00:23:42,880 --> 00:23:45,440 Speaker 1: you so much for joining us today for this Saturday classic. 411 00:23:45,760 --> 00:23:48,200 Speaker 1: If you have heard any kind of email address or 412 00:23:48,240 --> 00:23:50,119 Speaker 1: maybe a Facebook you are l during the course of 413 00:23:50,119 --> 00:23:52,760 Speaker 1: the episode, that might be obsolete. It might be doubly 414 00:23:52,800 --> 00:23:56,119 Speaker 1: obsolete because we have changed our email address again. You 415 00:23:56,160 --> 00:23:59,080 Speaker 1: can now reach us at History Podcast that I Heart 416 00:23:59,160 --> 00:24:01,879 Speaker 1: Radio dot com um, and we're all over social media. 417 00:24:01,960 --> 00:24:04,760 Speaker 1: At Missed in History and you can subscribe to our 418 00:24:04,760 --> 00:24:08,560 Speaker 1: show on Apple podcasts, Google podcasts, the I heart Radio app, 419 00:24:08,680 --> 00:24:14,600 Speaker 1: and wherever else you listen to podcasts. Stuff you Missed 420 00:24:14,600 --> 00:24:17,320 Speaker 1: in History Class is a production of I heart Radio. 421 00:24:17,400 --> 00:24:19,960 Speaker 1: For more podcasts from I heart Radio, visit the I 422 00:24:20,040 --> 00:24:23,240 Speaker 1: heart Radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to 423 00:24:23,280 --> 00:24:24,119 Speaker 1: your favorite shows.