Amateur film shot by Lieutenant David Heber-Percy while serving on HMS Colombo (1933-1935) of shore scenes in the Ceylon (?), Muscat, East Africa, India and Burma, the Seychelles and while serving on HMS Ilex (1937-1939) of destroyer exercises in the Mediterranean and shore scenes in Malta, Greece, Egypt, Palestine and Cyprus. Plus amateur naval theatrical pirate drama enacted by Heber-Percy's fellow officers.

Reel 1: EAST INDIES STATION 1933-1935. Cargo ship dips ensign as she passes HMS Colombo in Suez Canal. HMS Colombo into Red Sea. Three funnel P&O liner. Sailors playing cricket. Spanish (?) beach, Heber-Percy bathing. On board HMS Colombo. Ashore in Ceylon (?): coastal village scenes and goats; flag over fort, Galle (?); fishing; church on hillside; coastal gun. Muscat (?) or other small Oman Gulf (?) port: British official comes out in barge to visit HMS Colombo. Coast of Ceylon (?): coral reef and coastal views, lush and hilly; fellow officer swims in surf. Arid shore and Arab bazaar, Muscat (?): camels, fort backed by bare mountains; casbah scenes, old Ottoman gate, cannon in fort. Aerial shots of RAF fighter-bomber biplanes over arid mountains, Oman (?). Railway journey up the winding Darjeeling Himalaya line in India: Heber-Percy in pith helmet with camera; tea plantation; deer; three Englishmen in Bombay bloomer shorts; vulture overhead; surfing in sea; Indian feeding impala. Sudan (?): camels and camel train pass, Arab women; mounted troops of the Sudan Camel Corps; airfield hangar; British officer on horse; HMS Colombo offshore; officers wearing solar topees make car journey up mountain road. Off East African coast wrecked hull of German cruiser SMS Koenigsberg (sunk in 1914) is scanned, as is a wrecked cargo vessel; ashore sailors make trip inland; Askari band; East Africans watch football match. Reel 2: NORTH WEST FRONTIER. Railway journey to the Khyber Pass, India: camel train proceeds down mountain road; Union Jack flies over fort; notice in English and local cursive script "No person allowed along past this point without purpose being ..."; turbaned British Indian troops assemble and disassemble machine gun; through fortified tunnel; distinctive Indian dam; distinctive girder bridge over Gumti River at Lucknow; riverside view of Benares (?). BURMA: Buddhist temple; Mandalay Fort; cannon and cannon balls; interior of temple; Burmese in distinctive longwi dress in courtyard of palace (Mandalay ?); construction of pipeline beside railway line in hills; mahout washing elephant in river, then making elephant lift and stack cut teak logs with great precision. COLOUR: Scenes in the Seychelles: Mah; clock tower in island's capital Victoria; Beau Vallon Bay on west coast, with Silhouette Island in background. B&W: Reel 3: MEDITERRANEAN STATION 1937-1939. On board HMS Ilex, during Flotilla manoeuvres (summer 1938 or spring 1939) with other "I" Class destroyers, led by HMS Inglefield (thick black funnel markings): HMS Intrepid (D.10), HMS Imogen (D.44), HMS Isis (D.87). Queen Elizabeth Class battleship in Grand Harbour, Valletta, also HMS London, HMS Sussex or HMS Shropshire, and submarine depot ship behind. Horse racing at the Marsa, Malta, with women jockeys. HMS Imperial (D.09). On board HMS Ilex during Mediterranean Fleet exercises: making smoke, HMS Glorious, anti-aircraft cruiser HMS Curlew or Coventry; Fairey IIIs flying off HMS Glorious, Gloster Gladiator landing on. COLOUR: Flotilla manoeuvres with battleships, including HMS Warspite, screened by destroyers. Ashore on Crete (June 1939), with spring flowers, and Alastair Ewing on right; Heber-Percy crossing stream. Greek villagers offer hospitality to young RN officers during visit ashore: village photographer at work, Greeks dancing to violins. Visit to Cairo Zoo. Unreconstructed HMS Queen Elizabeth or HMS Malaya with Spanish Civil War red, white and blue identification bands over front turret. Mediterranean Fleet at sea. Ashore in the Verdala Palace Gardens, with Governor's flag flying over his summer residence; colourful flowers. HMS Impulsive (D11). Destroyer's 27 ft whaler. In Alexandria Harbour: RN battleships, French Messagerie Maritime liner with distinctive black funnels, troopship. Ashore on Rhodes. Arab horse and foal being trained by Arab in Palestine; in gardens; Palestine Policeman. High speed Flotilla manoeuvres. Sports Club at Alexandria; ladies playing at Smouha Golf Club; train on turntable. Officers of HMS Ilex swim in harbour with ship's pet monkey taken from Ceylon (and later arrested in Marseille for drunkenness). View of Famagusta (?). B&W: Ashore on Cyprus: St Hilarion Castle, snow in Troodos Mountains. Flotilla in line ahead; on bridge of HMS Ilex; gunnery officer on watch is Sidney Cope; HMS Isis (D.87) ahead. COLOUR: Pan around Grand Harbour, Valletta, with HMS Glasgow and battleship. Reel 4: OUT OF THE JAWS OF DEATH. Heber-Percy and fellow officers play amateur theatrics in castle on island in bay of Nauplia, Greece (June 1939), where Baron Broody captures and tortures sailors until Nelsonian Captain comes to their rescue.

Notes

Summary: films viewed in presence of Heber-Percy's widow and son Michael, and of Commander Michael Chichester, ex-HMS Imogen, who aided identification. Reel 4 is no more than a historic curiosity of naval wardroom entertainment from the late 1930s, and is shot almost entirely out of focus.