Descriptions

A menu card from Firpo’s restaurant in Calcutta (now Kolkata), signed by crew members of HMS Exeter on 24 November 1941.

This piece of paper marks a time of cheer and celebration. The crew had just had a good meal in a fancy nightclub. Shortly afterwards many of those named were dead or had been taken prisoner making this is a very poignant object.

HMS Exeter had survived the battle of the River Plate and had contributed to the sinking of the German battleship Admiral Graf Spee in 1939. She was repaired at Devonport and was sent to escort convoys between Singapore and Malaysia. On the way she docked at Calcutta where the crew had this meal. Only a few weeks later HMS Exeter fought ships from the Japanese Navy in the Battle of the Javan Sea. She was sunk and most of the surviving crew were taken prisoner and kept under extremely harsh conditions where many of them died.


This object is on display at RAMM in Gallery 22.