START 00:00:00 Scenes on HMS Nelson whilst en route for North Africa for Operation 'Torch': an officer from No. 9 Army Commando and stores on the main deck. At Gibraltar, ratings line up with brooms and placards with ironic, humorous messages and members of the Royal Marine band play as a farewell for Chief Petty Officer Easton (?). The sterns of three destroyers moored alongside HMS Nelson - the nearest HMS Noble (pennant number G84), an unidentifiable vessel in the middle (possibly an M Class destroyer), and HMS Meteor (pennant number G73).

00:01:45 A view of the anchorage at Mers-el-Kebir from high ground overlooking the naval base. A young Arab girl, a quarry or mineworking, an adult Arab male posing for the camera with the girl (his daughter).

00:02:34 A French concert party that includes attractive female performers gives a performance on board HMS Nelson at Mers-el-Kebir. Members of the Royal Navy and Europeans line streets in the centre of Oran to watch HMS Nelson's Royal Marines march through the city. The French tricolour, the US Stars and Stripes and the Union Jack flying in Oran.

00:04:35 A brief view of the port side of a Colony Class cruiser, possibly HMS Newfoundland, in rough seas off the Orkneys (?) as her A and Y triple 6-inch gun turrets fire a salvo away from the camera. Shots of wild flowers and shrubs growing in spring on the slopes of the Rock of Gibraltar.

00:08:59 Gibraltar, circa 20-30 May 1943: a young naval rating coming up the gangway, followed by an Admiral, the actress Vivien Leigh (wearing a yellow dress with patterns) and other members of the ENSA troupe, with Captain Guy Russell to greet them at they step aboard HMS Nelson. Scenes from a concert called 'Spring Party' held on the main deck in front of hundreds of sailors from HMS Nelson and another warship, probably a Dido Class light cruiser, moored alongside, with one of the female artistes on stage. The performers take a bow at the end of their performance and members of the female cast, including Vivien Leigh and Beatrice Lillie (?), are given flowers.

00:10:58 Scenes on Malta: pumpkins and pomegranates - one is sliced in two to reveal the soft fruit inside. One of Blundell's fellow officers holds a yellow flower in his hand. Views of Maltese countyside - terraced fields surrounded by stone walls. Tomatoes and black and green grapes. A beach on a rocky inlet at Ghajn Tuffieha in the north-west corner of Malta where steps cut into limestone provide access. Cliffs and a cave lapped by the sea. Blundell's comrades (including Captain Guy Russell (?)) stroll down and have a swim in the azure blue water. Two of them stoll along the beach entirely naked. The visitors retrace their steps up the steps. Views of a giant cactus growing nearby, the rugged cliff tops and a dog.

00:14:37 Giant pumpkins drying on a roof. An aqueduct built in the early seventeenth century for Grand Master of the Knights of St John, Alof de Wignacourt. Under-exposed and normal shots of flowers and shrubs. Views of figurines at the entrance to Boschetto Gardens and Verdala Palace, built in 1586 for Grand Master Hugo Verdalle at Boschetto. A plaque detailing the palace's origins and the restoration work commissioned by the British governor of Malta, Sir William Reid, in 1855. Loofahs hanging from trees. A gardener diverts irrigated water onto a dry section of soil.

00:16:27 Vice-Admiral Algernon Willis and Captain Guy Russell join other naval officers and the officer commanding the Royal Marine detachment on board HMS Nelson for a group photograph on the quarterdeck next to the stern Mk VII 2-pounder pom-pom position; unfortunately, they are in the shade. A still life of cactus plants in Blundell's cabin.

END 00:16:52

A silent 8mm colour film record made by Commander George C Blundell of episodes and places he visited whilst serving on the battleship HMS Nelson in the Mediterranean from October 1942 to October 1943.

Notes

Summary: laid down in 1922 and commissioned in August 1927, HMS Nelson was named in honour of Horatio Nelson, the Royal Navy's most famous admiral. She had one sistership, HMS Rodney. Built to comply with the 1922 Washington Naval Treaty, Nelson and Rodney each had a displacement of 35,000 tons. Consisting of nine 16-inch guns in three turrets, the main armament was mounted forward of the superstructure, giving these two battleships an unusual appearance. After transferring from HMS Kent, Blundell joined HMS Nelson, flagship of the Home Fleet, at Scapa Flow in February 1941. Up until that point, the battleship's war service had been unspectacular; in December 1939, she struck a mine and was laid up for repairs until the following August. After serving as a troopship convoy escort, Nelson was assigned to Force H in the Mediterranean in June 1941 and was torpedoed by an Italian torpedo-bomber in the following September (see MGH 2742). After repairs in the UK that lasted until April 1942, HMS Nelson resumed active service in the summer of 1942 in time for Operation 'Pedestal' (see MGH 2745). A month earlier, Blundell was promoted to the rank of Commodore and served as HMS Nelson's Executive Officer. In November 1942, HMS Nelson supported the Allied landings in North Africa for Operation 'Torch' and took part in the invasion of Sicily in July 1943 and the Salerno landings two months later. She was chosen to host the signing of the Italian armistice between General Dwight D Eisenhower and Marshal Pietro Badoglio aboard Nelson on 29th September 1943 (see MGH 2747). Returning to UK waters in November 1943, the battleship supported the D-Day landings in June 1944 and saw service in the Far East just before the war against Japan ended in August 1945. HMS Nelson was decommissioned in February 1948 and scrapped a year later.

Remarks: more evidence of Blundell's botanical passions. Star gazers will be drawn to the glimpses of Vivien Leigh and Beatrice Lillie whilst those interested in wartime Malta and its flora will find much to interest them here.