can you find a camouflaged cat / an embedded figure

Above Can you find the camouflaged cat? A Victorian-era puzzle picture from The Strand Magazine.

•••

Roland Pertwee, "Camouflage" in The Strand Magazine, May 1917, p. 502—

For the benefit of those who may not be acquainted with what camouflage means, it might be truthfully described as a thin veil drawn over great events.

There are endless varieties of camouflage and endless uses to which it may be put. A great white road is concealed from the enemy lines by a hedge of thinly-plaited twigs—camouflage, An observation point hidden in the heart of a haystack—camouflage. A mighty gun masked by an awning of fishermen’s nets sprinkled with dead leaves—camouflage. A corpse brought in from No Man’s Land and replaced by a live man, who watches what is toward in the Hun trenches—again camouflage. But perhaps the subtlest variety of all is the kind that men and women devise to screen their real emotions from each other and the world.

RELATED LINKS 

Dazzle Camouflage: What is it and how did it work? /  Nature, Art, and Camouflage / Art, Women's Rights, and Camouflage /  Embedded Figures, Art, and Camouflage / Art, Gestalt, and Camouflage /  Optical science meets visual art /  Disruption versus dazzle / Chicanery and conspicuousness / 

FALSE COLORS: Art, Design and Modern Camouflage

CAMOUPEDIA: A Compendium of Research

on Art, Architecture and Camouflage

SHIP SHAPE: A Dazzle Camouflage Sourcebook

Alon Bement's 1925 article on illusions & camouflage

This five-page article on ship camouflage has now been posted online and can be downloaded as a pdf. Its author, American artist Alon Bement, was an important teacher of Georgia O'Keeffe at Columbia University, who served as a civilian camoufleur during World War I. We have blogged about him in the past. Here is the link.

RELATED LINKS 

Dazzle Camouflage: What is it and how did it work? /  Nature, Art, and Camouflage / Art, Women's Rights, and Camouflage /  Embedded Figures, Art, and Camouflage / Art, Gestalt, and Camouflage /  Optical science meets visual art /  Disruption versus dazzle / Chicanery and conspicuousness / 

FALSE COLORS: Art, Design and Modern Camouflage

CAMOUPEDIA: A Compendium of Research

on Art, Architecture and Camouflage

SHIP SHAPE: A Dazzle Camouflage Sourcebook

Camouflaged Trench Digger in the War Zone / WWI

Above A World War I-era cover illustration for Scientific American by Howard Vachel Brown (1878-1945), titled "Camouflaged Trench Digger at Work in the War Zone." 

We've blogged about Howard V. Brown before, in part because he created an especially wonderful cover for Scientific American (March 1919) that shows a camouflage artist assessing the effectiveness of a ship model, painted in a dazzle camouflage scheme. Of additional interest is that Brown was a student of New York ship camouflage designer William Andrew Mackay, in the development of camouflage for the US Shipping Board, so he was well acquainted with testing devices like the one shown on that cover.

RELATED LINKS 

Dazzle Camouflage: What is it and how did it work? /  Nature, Art, and Camouflage / Art, Women's Rights, and Camouflage /  Embedded Figures, Art, and Camouflage / Art, Gestalt, and Camouflage /  Optical science meets visual art /  Disruption versus dazzle / Chicanery and conspicuousness /  Under the big top at Sims' circus

camouflage practices in Mexico in advance of WWI

Above José Guadalupe Posada, Calavera de Don Quixote, relief etching, 1913.

•••

MEXICAN CAMOUFLAGE in The Nenana Daily News (Nenana, Yukon, Alaska) November 16, 1918, p. 2—

Camouflage as war art was known in Mexico long before it was used in Europe, although not by that name. Mexican soldiers since the days of [President Porfirio] Dias have practiced concealment for military advantage. They have been known to place their high crowned straw hats on poles stuck in sand hills in such a way as to make the enemy force believe they were defending the hill, then flank the enemy from another direction. [Victoriano] Huerta's federal soldiers used camouflage to conceal the port holes in the sides of armored railroad cars. A checkerboard pattern was painted on the sides of these cars and black and white squares concealed the rifle ports.

The Mexican fighting men have also used the trick of covering their high hats and bodies with brush to advance on the enemy positions through thickets. Villa originated the plan of driving a herd of cattle into a beseiged town at night in order to draw the fire of the defenders and to explode any mines in the streets.

The most primitive, though effective application of camouflage in Mexico was the practice of the Tarahuamara [Rarámuri] Indian scouts with [Francisco] Madero’s revolutionary army. These half naked scouts would precede the army, and, by doing a kind of pattern dance, raised a cloud of dust which concealed them from the view of the enemy and permitted them to approach the enemy positions without being detected in their envelope of dust which resembled a dust whirl common on Mexican deserts.

RELATED LINKS    

Dazzle Camouflage: What is it and how did it work? /  Nature, Art, and Camouflage / Art, Women's Rights, and Camouflage /  Embedded Figures, Art, and Camouflage / Art, Gestalt, and Camouflage /  Optical science meets visual art /  Disruption versus dazzle / Chicanery and conspicuousness /  Under the big top at Sims' circus

failed camouflage / wife's hat must not be so employed

Above This cartoon was published in the Boston Sunday Post on September 23, 1932. The title reads ABRAHAMSON'S CAMOUFLAGE FAILETH with the subtitle of WIFE'S HAT MUST NOT BE SO USED. Where one might expect the artist's name, it simply reads "(Silent Comic.)"

So—who might that "silent comic" be? There is an unreadable signature of sorts at the bottom right. It might possibly be MEB or Michael Edward Brady (1896-1941). But I doubt it. 

One of Brady’s other cartoons was published beside it on the same newspaper page, and the layout makes it confusing to know if this one is his also. Regardless, there is a helpful article about Brady’s life, written by Alex Jay, which can be accessed here online.

•••

RELATED LINKS    

Dazzle Camouflage: What is it and how did it work? /  Nature, Art, and Camouflage / Art, Women's Rights, and Camouflage /  Embedded Figures, Art, and Camouflage / Art, Gestalt, and Camouflage /  Optical science meets visual art /  Disruption versus dazzle / Chicanery and conspicuousness /  Under the big top at Sims' circus

SALE book bundle / free shipping

airplane plants camouflaged by set designers in WWII

Lockheed plant (before)

Lockheed plant (after)

Above and below Various US government views of a WWII aircraft factory, concealed from aerial view by suspended imitations of suburban neighborhoods.

•••

Susan Elia MacNeal, THE HOLLYWOOD SPY: A Maggie Hope Mystery. New York: Bantam, 2021.

They passed through tall, imposing gates to a security checkpoint, and John showed his identification. "Yes, Flight Commander Sterling," one of the guards said, a lean man with a bulbous nose. "Mr. Hughes told us you'd be here this afternoon—and bringing a guest." He waved them through. 

As they walked into the giant wooden hangar, Maggie looked around. Men in coveralls, and even one woman—her hair tied up in a Rosie the Riveter bandanna—were working on the planes. The air smelled faintly of oil and jet fuel. "Impressive," she said, voice lost in the cavernous space. 

"Takeoffs to the west have to be coordinated with the Los Angeles International Airport," John said. 

Warplanes going to the Pacific, Maggie realized. "Where are the factories?" 

"Close by, but hidden. The defense companies worked with set designers to camouflage the plants—they've even gone so far as to put fake grass and wooden cows on the roofs.”  

"That's very...Hollywood." 

above and below ground views

RELATED LINKS    

Dazzle Camouflage: What is it and how did it work? /  Nature, Art, and Camouflage / Art, Women's Rights, and Camouflage /  Embedded Figures, Art, and Camouflage / Art, Gestalt, and Camouflage /  Optical science meets visual art /  Disruption versus dazzle / Chicanery and conspicuousness /  Under the big top at Sims' circus

construction of a WWI dummy tank by british in france

Above Dummy tank being constructed in France by British forces, 1916.

•••

SWANSEA'S TANK in The Cambria Daily Leader (Wales), October 23, 1919, p. 8—

Somebody at the War Office is evidently deeply concerned that towns' war savings presentation tanks shall be properly maintained and prevented from deterioration into rust and desuetude. Swansea's unattended and unapproachable. because of the trivial paling round it, evidently would not please him, to judge from the following note from the W.O. Publicity Department on tank presentation:—"Each city and town so honored should arrange for proper care and attention to be bestowed upon its charge, so as to keep it always a proud and fitting memorial to an arm of the Service which did so much to save the lives of many thousands of citizen soldiers. The tank should rest upon a firm concrete foundation of ample area, so that on wet days visitors may not carry mud into the interior. The exterior of the hull and the roof should be well cleaned and thoroughly painted at regular intervals, and the wonderful 'dazzle' and 'Futurist camouflage effects may be used with advantage. But if camouflage is not possible, a good serviceable brown color may be used without departing from realism, as, indeed, many tanks went into action plainly painted and with no attempt at cunning disguise. The tracks or road chains should be very thoroughly treated, else they will soon show signs of rust and decay and, as it is not practicable to keep them bright, they should be painted a color as near the natural steel as possible. A tank crew dearly loved to have all the inside of the machine white in color, and it is doubtful if their choice can be improved upon, with a dull black for the engine. For the rest, brass work and steel rods should be kept bright and. clean, and this duty could well be included in the daily routine of an employee of the local council. In wet weather, and at night, the roof of the machine should be covered with a tarpaulin." All this, emanating evidently from a man who knows his tank well, contrasts strangely with talk of using the presentation for scrap iron. It is a counsel of perfection, of course, but Swansea ought to get some useful tips from it.

RELATED LINKS    

Dazzle Camouflage: What is it and how did it work? /  Nature, Art, and Camouflage / Art, Women's Rights, and Camouflage /  Embedded Figures, Art, and Camouflage / Art, Gestalt, and Camouflage /  Optical science meets visual art /  Disruption versus dazzle / Chicanery and conspicuousness /  Under the big top at Sims' circus

tacoma builds phony tank for WWI liberty loan parade

Above WWI American dummy tank in Liberty Loan parade, 1918

•••

CITY TANK IN LOAN PARADE in Tacoma Times (Tacoma WA) April 06, 1918, p. 8—

One of the novel features of Saturday’s Liberty parade was a miniature “tank” furnished by the city streets department. The tank was built from a new caterpillar tractor just purchased by the city. Although the caterpillar tread of the city machine does not go over the top of the body, as it does in the battle tanks, the machine was camouflaged by scenic artists so that it bore a startling resemblance to the new war terrors. It was armed with a half dozen fierce-looking guns. Commissioner Atkins announced that he would guide the city tank through the streets.

RELATED LINKS    

Dazzle Camouflage: What is it and how did it work? /  Nature, Art, and Camouflage / Art, Women's Rights, and Camouflage /  Embedded Figures, Art, and Camouflage / Art, Gestalt, and Camouflage /  Optical science meets visual art /  Disruption versus dazzle / Chicanery and conspicuousness /  Under the big top at Sims' circus

disrupting Picasso and Man Ray on the French Riviera

Speaking of shadow disruption (an addendum to the previous post), I must also recommend a fascinating documentary video that is available to watch free on the Tubi streaming video site. 

Above is a still frame from the video in which Picasso, Man Ray and their friends are shown seated beneath a tree, the shadows of which are disrupting their figures. 

The 54-minute film is called On the French Riviera with Man Ray and Picasso, and the online link is here.

chain link fence shadows as disruptive camouflage

I am tempted to call it “chain link fence camouflage” since it occurs so frequently on the tennis court on a sunny day. 

A ball is hit over the chain link fence, and in searching for it in the grass (a green ball especially) it may be difficult to see because its shape is broken up by the shadow of the fence.

It has had other names as well: “umbrella camouflage,” “garnished fish net camouflage,” “shadow disruption” and so on.

It is nothing new, and can easily be found in art history, especially in photography and in impressionist painting. But it seems that it wasn’t officially and commonly practiced until World War I. It’s use of course is now widepread.

Shown above is the cover of a special issue of Art News magazine (November 1-14, 1942), which included several articles on wartime uses of camouflage. The photograph on the cover is an optimal example of shadow disruption.

We’ve blogged about in the past, as in this post from 2016. And there is an interesting account of its use by Ellsworth Kelly (who was a wartime camoufleur) in E.C. Goossen’s book about his life and work.

ambiguous perspective disguises ship's course in wwi

Above is a wonderful page spread from the February 1919 issue of International Marine Engineering. The article, titled "Principles Underlying Ship Camouflage: Complementary Colors Produce Low Visibility—Dazzle System of Ambiguous Perspective Disguises Ship's Course—Special Color Effects," was written and illustrated by Alon Bement, whom we've blogged about before. He taught art education at Columbia University, was a wartime camouflage advisor, and, interestingly, had a pivotal influence on his student, the painter Georgia O'Keeffe (as claimed by her). His ship camouflage diagrams are exceptionally helpful (there are more in the full article), as is the text. I think it would be fair to say that this is one of the best WWI-era articles on marine camouflage. I have reprinted the article, in its entirety (text and images), in my anthology of ship camouflage documents, titled SHIP SHAPE: A Dazzle Camouflage Sourcebook.

WWI horse striped like a zebra to hoodwink the enemy

Above Photograph from The Illustrated News (London), April 7, 1915, p. 48, with the following caption: STRIPED TO ELUDE THE ENEMY: A PONY DISGUISED AS A ZEBRA, ON THE GERMAN EAST AFRICAN BORDER. This photograph of an officer on active service in East Africa, mounted on a pony which has been dyed with permanganate of potash to resemble a zebra, must surely be the last word in war coloration and the mimicry of natural surroundings, for purposes of invisibility. The tawny tinge of khaki—very much the tint of a lion’s skin, by the way—sufficiently serves for the rider’s concealment amidst the forest shadows. The dying of light-colored and piebald and white horses has become a regulation practice among the cavalry in Europe in particular, as it has been stated, some of the German regiments at the front. In much the same way, heavy artillery guns and wagons are sometimes painted over with broad patches and daubs of the primary colors.

•••

Roe Fulkerson, “An Old Man in His Dotage” in Crescent Magazine: Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. Vol 12 No 3 (May 1921), p. 22—

[A Shriner] came into our village the other day…There was no place to take him so I took him to a lunch club I belong to and there we heard a navy man tell the story of what the Navy did in the war. The man was a good talker and he laid particular stress on the wonderful science of camouflgae and how marvelous it was that they had discovered that by painting a war ship in alternating black and white stripes it completely destroyed the form of it and made it invisible at a comparatively short distance. He expatiated at great length on this. Keep that point in mind.

Then as I had no other addresses worthwhile I took my visiting Noble for a ride out to the zoo so he could look at the camels and sympathize with their lack of grace and explain to them how he, too, in other days had established records for going without water.

While we were looking at the camels we looked in the next yard and there were a lot of zebras with those same black and white stripes that the Navy man was just telling us about and we recalled that a zebra lives out on the vast plains of Africa and that the Almighty had for ages been camouflaging him with black and white stripes to break up his form so his enemies could not see him at a distance! Then we went for a ride in the country and passed over a bridge and were stopped by a gate and a bridge at a grade crossing and how do you suppose they had painted that railroad gate and that bridge so I would be sure to see from a distance and not run into them?

They had striped them in black and white like a zebra!

•••

Below WWI photograph of British soldiers in France. At the right is a captured German sentry box, marked by alternating stripes. 

RELATED LINKS    

Dazzle Camouflage: What is it and how did it work? /  Nature, Art, and Camouflage / Art, Women's Rights, and Camouflage /  Embedded Figures, Art, and Camouflage / Art, Gestalt, and Camouflage /  Optical science meets visual art /  Disruption versus dazzle / Chicanery and conspicuousness /  Under the big top at Sims' circus

WWII aircraft factories hidden from enemy aerial view

Above An aerial view of the Lockheed-Vega aircraft factory in Burbank CA, during WWII, when the entire facility was hidden beneath a vast simulation of houses, stores and residential neighborhoods.

•••

CAMOUFLEURS GOT BUSY in Daily News (Perth, Western Australia) August 4, 1945, p. 10—

The US entered World War II with many a war plant that needed careful defense.

Among the most vulnerable were flimsily protected airplane plants along the eastern and western coasts. They were unexpendable and immovable. Their nakedness demanded some sort of wrapping.

So the US Corps of Engineers put to work a motley legion of industrial designers, billboard painters, crack Hollywood illusionists, and serious artists.

By last week, workmen were yanking wire trees and make-believe houses off many camouflaged war plants.

The makeup job had been costly: Fullblown protective concealment of thirty-seven vital plants had cost 22 million dollars. Other money went for simpler tone-down work, or “disruptive painting,” at smaller plants and airfield hosts.

In the heat of its enthusiasm for plenty of camouflage, the Corps of Engineers gave out contracts for disguising fields hundreds of miles inland.

Famed industrial designer Raymond Loewy turned camoufleur to plan the two million dollar “passive protection” of Baltimore’s Glenn Martin bomber factory.

Warner Brothers technicians had to protect the big Douglas plants at Santa Monica against twin risks. Within easy periscope sight from the Pacific, it was vulnerble to shells as well as bombs.

Douglas airfield architects had their camouflage plan ready before Pearl Harbor. They made minatures, then photographed them from simulated bombing altitudes.

Building the dummy airport, phony plants, and a fake residential [neighborhood], complete with washing on clotheslines, took two and a half years, and cost two and a half million dollars.

It was duplicated on the plants when the war came.

Masking the consolidated plant at San Diego called for great nets draped over the Pacific Highway.

At Seattle, the task was difficult.

Boeing’s Flying Fortress plant was sandwiched between busy Boeing Field and a natural landmark, the Duwamish River.

Camoufleurs hid the field so trickily that veteran pilots had to ask the way in.

Atop the Boeing plants went a 26-acre village, made of chicken wire, canvas, lumber and painted chicken featers. The town had fifty-three houses, stores and a gas station.

Some of its streets crossed the field, went up Beacon Hill.

Camoufleurs skipped the river.

•••

Below The large, concealed underground parking lot at the Lockheed-Vega plant in Burbank.

WWI proof / children know the meaning of camouflage

Above and below These are two uncredited photographs that appeared in American publications during World War I (c1918). The top one shows the camouflage-patterned wings of a National Service airplane. The patterning works as well as it does in part because it is a grayscale photograph, so the dark disruptive shapes on the wings and tail blend in all too easily with the shadows and other irregular shapes on the ground. In addition, the symmetrical target-like circles contradict whatever confusion is caused by surface disruption.

The photograph at the bottom is even more suspect, if for different reasons. It claims to show three children holding up a toy model airplane on which they have painted a comparable disruptive scheme. The caption for the photograph reads—

Even youngsters soon learn war terms. These three, for instance, are proud to display their toy aeroplane [airplane], the mottled finish of which shows that they know the meaning of “camouflage.”

Today, in an era in which digital photo retouching is epidemic, we may not be surprised to find that this pre-computer image appears to have been retouched by hand. The contours of the chidren’s figures, as well as the shape of the airplane, have undoubtedly been strengthened, and the facial features of the figure in the center look suspiciously like an adult. 

RELATED VIDEO SERIES

Dazzle Camouflage: What is it and how did it work?

 Nature, Art, and Camouflage

 Art, Women's Rights, and Camouflage

 Embedded Figures, Art, and Camouflage

 Art, Gestalt, and Camouflage

dazzle camouflaged troop ship arrives from europe

Above Cover illustration for the sheet music for Will D. Cobb and Gus Edwards, “Welcome Home, Laddie Boy, Welcome Home” published by M. Witmark and Sons, 1918. Notice the dazzle-camouflaged troop ship in the background (labeled L'Marne).

FULL TEXT ONLINE BOOKLETS

Optical science meets visual art

Disruption versus dazzle

Chicanery and conspicuousness

Under the big top at Sims' circus

was Cleopatra's Barge first case of ship camouflage

Above Cover of Paul F. Johnston, Shipwrecked in Paradise: Cleopatra's Barge in Hawai’i. College Station, TX: Texas A&M University Press, 2015.  

Cleopatra’s Barge was the name of a lavish Egyptian-themed popular lounge (now permanently closed) at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. 

But long in advance of that, it was also the name of an oceangoing yacht, a “pleasure yacht,” built in Massachusetts in 1816 for George Crowninshield Jr. Six years later, it was sold to the King of Hawaii, Kamehameha II. A detailed account can be found online. It was known for its extravagant furnishings, indoor plumbing, and other features, including (as shown above in the cover of a book about it) surface patterns that (some have said) might have functioned like the confusing zigzag patterns applied to World War I ships for camouflage (called dazzle painting). Colorful horizontal stripes were painted on the starboard side, with a herringbone pattern on the port side (as shown in the painting). 

An article discussing this—Ernest S. Dodge, “Cleopatra’s Barge: America’s First Deep-Water Yacht”—was published in Motor Boating, December 1954, of which the following is excerpted (p. 104)—

In the early nineteenth century ships were brightly painted. Monotonous black topsides and painted ports were not yet generally fashionable. But Cleopatra’s Barge exceeded her contemporaries in the gaiety of her paint job as in most other things. Her starboard side, decorated with many horizontal stripes, in a variety of colors, was the more conventional. But to port she reflected her owner’s fancy and unorthodox taste with an unusual herringbone design. When seen from opposite sides she resembled two different vessels—the first case of ship camouflage on record. It is doubtful, however, if the camouflage was deliberate as has been claimed by those who believe that George [Crowninshield Jr] actually built the yacht to attempt a rescue of Napoleon from St. Helena. Rather was it one more example of his taste for the startling and unusual. 

Anon, portrait drawing of Kamehameha II

RELATED VIDEO SERIES

Dazzle Camouflage: What is it and how did it work?

 Nature, Art, and Camouflage

 Art, Women's Rights, and Camouflage

 Embedded Figures, Art, and Camouflage

 Art, Gestalt, and Camouflage

Ellsworth Kelly in relation to overhead garnished nets

Above Cover of Art News magazine (restored), November 1942, with a photograph of personnel and artillery broken up by the shadows of an overhanging net, in which canvas strips (or other materials) have been interwoven. This was widely practiced during both World Wars, and was sometimes known as "umbrella camouflage." For more information on this technique, see "Kelly and Camouflage" (p. 115) in E.C. Goossen, Ellsworth Kelly. New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1973 (as shown below). Kelly was a US Army camoufleur during WWII.

SEE ALSO

Nature, Art, and Camouflage (35 min. video talk)

Art, Women’s Rights, and Camouflage (29 min. video talk)

Embedded Figures, Art, and Camouflage (26 min. video talk)

Art, Gestalt, and Camouflage (28 min. video talk)

concealment of a california aircraft plant during WWII

Above View from above of the spurious suburban neighborhoods that covered the Donald Douglas Aircraft plant in Southern California during World War II. Below in this post is a view of the same structure, as seen from the concealed factory level.

•••

Donald Albrecht, World War II and the American Dream. National Building Museum, and MIT Press, 1995, p 196—

Because the [Donald Douglas Aircraft] plant was dangerously near the coast, its buildings were camouflaged so that enemy aviators would see only what appeared to be an unbroken stretch of suburban subdivisions. Paint was applied to simulate streets and houses, and nearby trees were trimmed to the height of the plant buildings to present a uniform appearance from the air. The Santa Monica factory featured an even more elaborate deception scheme, with canvas houses, fake trees, and camouflage netting covering the entire plant. 

to camouflage the inside—so I don't know where I am

Roland Davies

Above Roland Davies, WWII British Short Sunderland Flying Boat.

•••

James Thrall Soby, “Genesis of a Collection” in Art In America, Vol 49 No 1, 1961, p. 79—

[Abstract Expressionist artist] Matta [Roberto Sebastián Antonio Matta Echaurren] was born in Chile and therefore presumably exempt from American military service. Nevertheless, he worried about being drafted, and came to me in the Museum [of Modern Art]  to ask whether he could be assigned to camouflaging tanks if he were called up. I explained that this sort of camouflage was less commonly used in the Second World War than in the First because of improvements in aerial reconnaissance. “You don’t understand,” he said. “I don’t want to camouflage the outside of a tank so the enemy can’t find it. I want to camouflage the inside, so I won’t know where I am.”

RELATED LINKS

 Cubism and Camouflage

Cook: The Man Who Taught Gertrude Stein to Drive

Art, Design and Gestalt Theory: The Film Version

Canadian camouflage artist Rowley Walter Murphy

Above Dazzle-camouflaged transport ship (AI colorized), 1942.

•••

Mary El Cane, "Staff and Nonsense" column, in Sketch (Ontario College of Art), February 27, 1947, p. 1—

Meet the Navy, in the person of Rowley [Walter] Murphy [1891-1975]. Many years of yachting since 1898, he insists readied him for full wartime effort on destroyers corvettes, ad infinitum. Canaling was a specialty with him, and also a possible excuse for some sketching of masters and mates of the tugs and freighters on the Welland Canal. He spent some time sailing the pilot schooner off Halifax harbor, swishing around in a relation of the Bluenose. Admiral Jones kept him busy for a time on the designing of naval camouflage, a job more exacting than people realize. (“Karl, vos is das on dur distance an iceberger?” “Yah, Hermann, idz torpedering us! Mervy doned id agen!”)