Curator's Choice - Matchbox Holder

Matchbox holder made by a prisoner of war

This matchbox holder was made by Able Seaman J Green while he was a prisoner of war in Italy during the Second World War.

He used a nail to decorate the holder and inscribed the date of his internment, 1941, onto the spine. On the reverse he inscribed a skull and crossbones from the Jolly Roger flag flown by submarines, which bore symbols telling of their successes. On the front are crossed torpedoes with a single star above, showing that the submarine fired one torpedo. 

AB Green served on the submarine HMS Cachalot. At 2 o’clock on the morning of 30th July 1941 a destroyer was spotted heading towards Cachalot, forcing the submarine to dive. On returning to the surface the submarine was spotted and attacked by the Italian destroyer that steamed in firing its guns and rammed the submarine. All the crew, apart from a Maltese steward, were picked up by the destroyer and transported to Benghazi from where they were taken to a POW camp near Naples, until repatriation in 1943.

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