Yougoslavie

Ruth Mitchell War Heroine Typed Letter Signed 'Ruth Knowles' a reference for her 'ship-keeper' William Stilwell. With 4 photographs of her barquentine 'Friendship' 'Emma Ernest' and typed reports with newspaper cuttings by Stilwell's son.

7907 — Letter dated 21 May 1932; on 'World Explorers' letterhead. The two reports from 1988 with one dated 'JS James Stilwell Oct 88'. An interesting collection of material relating to an extraordinary woman whose exploits deserve recognition. According to one obituary Mitchell sister of American General 'Billy' Mitchell was 'he only foreign woman to serve with the Chetniks' for whom she acted as a dispatch rider. Captured by the Gestapo while swimming at Dubrovnik 'still in her bathing suit and with papers on her that would have caused her to be executed without trial she turned to the agents and asked: "Gentlemen you will permit me to change my trousers" They agreed. "In that instant I got rid of my papers" she later recounted. After a court-martial however she was condemned to death. "Under certain circumstances" Miss Mitchell told her judges "it is an honor to be shot". She defended herself in excellent German and so astounded the court that instead of being executed she was sent to prison. In 13 months she was transferred to 12 different prisons many of them in Germany. She was finally released in 1942 as a result of pressure from the Swiss Government and returned to the Unite States where reports of German atrocities and torture were widely disseminated.' Mitchell's status as model for the character 'Mrs Gerda Millett' in the film 'The Yellow Rolls-Royce' has not been previously noted. Slight staining to all three items. Letter: 4to 1 p. On aged paper with chipping and closed tears to extremities. Ornate letterhead with illustration of globe and ship and printed matter across head and in left-hand margin in which Knowles is named as 'Skipper' of 'The Clippership "Friendship" Charing Cross Pier London.' and the 'purpose' of 'World Explorers Ltd' 'Non-Profit Making' is given as 'By the co-operation of Governments and Local Authorities so to reduce the cost of travel as to make it a practical part of every average education.' Stilwell's reference is complimentary. He has questioned in red ink the description of the boat as a 'Clippership' 'A Barquentine 109' long in Lloyd's Register 1876-1934 as the "Emma Ernest" Some "Clippership"!' and Knowles's right to be called a 'Skipper' 'No BOT Certificates to my knowledge.' With two typed reports by James Stilwell each one page on a leaf 29.5 x 18.5 cm. The first report 19 lines is headed 'Emma Ernest' and gives a history of the ship which was acquired by Knowles around 1929: 'Masts unshipped for the trip up the Thames to moorings at Charing Cross pier for use as a floating club house in connection with Mrs Knowles' International Friendship organisation. . Mrs K as owner right up to 1934.' Beneath the report is a magazine photograph 10.5 x 17.5 cm of the boat moored on the Thames with the sweep of London to St Pauls behind it. Laid down on the reverse are the four original photographs. Two of these both 8.5 x 13.5 cm one landscape and one portrait show the boat on the Thames with the flags of the world in her rigging. The other two photographs both 8 x 5.5 cm are deck shots with individuals. The second report 33 lines stamped '06 OCT 1988' is headed 'Mrs R. Knowles' and includes personal information: 'My Father first saw the vessel at Charing Cross pier and imagined that she was going somewhere . He obtained employment with Mrs Knowles and we spent May-Dec 29 down at Ramhurst Manor where he did shipwright work . When we knew her she was married to Sam Knowles who taught Mathematics at the Tonbridge Public School. My Mother acted as Housekeeper/Cook Maud Quick was the maid and Larkin was the chaufeur of 'KO 6568. My Father ship-keeper at Charing Cross -30. Lost contact 1931.' The report end regarding the film 'The Yellow Rolls-Royce' 'In the film her final owner was a really 'get-up-and-go' American woman played by Ingrid Bergmann who linked up with a Yugo partisan Omar Sherif sic using her yellow RR to get him out of Austria to where he belonged. The resemblance to our 'Mrs Knowles' is really very close.' Laid down on the leaf is a cutting from 'Life' magazine with photograph relating to Knowles's joining of 'the secret society of Serb patriots called Chetniks': 'In a peasant hut near Belgrade . Ruth Mitchell was handed a phial of poison and a black fur hat with silver skull-and-crossbones emblem.' On the reverse of the leaf are laid down three cuttings two relating to Knowles's home of Ramhurst Manor and the third with a photograph 11 x 11.5 cm showing Knowles at the wheel of the boat 'the clubhouse of the Honourable Company of Friendly Adventurers' 'wearing her new uniform which has been specially designed'. See Image Letter dated 21 May 1932; on 'World Explorers' letterhead. The two reports from 1988, with one dated 'JS [James Stilwell] Oct 88 unknown