Massachusetts painter / ship camoufleur Philip Little

Philip Little (1921)

The name of Philip Little (1857-1942) may already be familiar. He was a Massachusetts sea and landscape painter, whose studio was in New Salem. More to the point, he was interested in camouflage, and during World War I he experimented with ship camouflage. As we have blogged about before, in the collection of the National Archives and Record Administration (NARA) is his painted demonstration of how one might disguise a battleship by making it look like an island. In late 1917, two ships (the USS Yacona and the USS Aztec) were assigned to him for the purpose of testing his camouflage schemes.

In the fall of 1918, there was considerable news coverage of his use of what he called “reverse camouflage” (conspicuous high visibility) in attracting donors to a tent on the Boston Common for the purpose of raising funds for the Liberty Loan Drive (sadly, this was coincident with a massive worldwide flu epidemic). Yesterday, we found a passport photograph of him from 1921 (shown above), as well as a news article (see text and photograph below) in which he talks about his interest in ship camouflage.

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Anon, CAMOUFLAGE BOAT AND ITS INVENTOR, in the Boston Post, October 17, 1917—

“Now you see it and now you don’t.”

This is the expression that could be well applied to an object that has been mystifying sailors in Salem harbor, as well as thousands of people who dwell in close proximity to the shores.

On sunny days the object merges with the heat and blends itself into the horizon, and while you would declare that there was something on the water, you are not actually sure. On a dull day the object is equally elusive, losing itself in the gray of the sky line.

The only way to satisfy one’s curiosity is to row out and “find” the conundrum.

Mystery Solved
The “mystery” is none other than the fast 40-foot power boat Sagella owned by Philip Little, the Salem artist, who paints both landscapes and marines, and who is the front rank of painters in this country.

He has experimented with the new camouflage art, and there is probably not another man in the United States who has met with the success that he has. The Navy Department has adopted many of his suggestions, and already torpedo boat destroyers leaving New York harbor have been painted according to his specifications.

The Sagella is painted in waves of [unreadable], blues and pale green colors and is even deceptive to the camera. It is possible to get a picture of the boat only at close range.

Even at close range one cannot see where the water line on the boat merges with the waters in which it is riding.

“As far back at 1908, I got my first idea about camouflage,” said Mr. Little. “I was sailing off the coast of the Bahamas on a very hot day and I could just make out a wavy object miles away against the sky line. I could not make it plain with the naked eye and I resorted to the use of the spy glass. I could then only see that it was a two-masted ship, and its color was such that the heat waves made it almost invisible.

“I realized then that to get a wave effect [on] a boat with the right colors would be the only way to make good camouflage.

“I have tried that feature out with success, finding that light blue, light gray and pink and light green, [are] the colors that are best adapted.

“And by the way a definition of the word ‘camouflage’ might be of interest. The word ‘camouflage,’ as it is spelled, is a word of French coinage and really means ‘faking.’ The word ‘calamo flatus’ in Latin is no doubt from where it was derived. This Latin word means ‘to blow smoke in one’s face.’

“‘Camoflet’ is the French word that is correct, and this really resorts itself in English to the word ‘stifler.’ Camouflage is really the ‘stifler’ of any of the human senses.

“‘Gassing,’ [the] use of dummy cows, trees, shrubbery or anything to fool or overcome any of the senses of the enemy is camouflage.”