John Worsley joined the Royal Navy in 1939. His depictions of life on board ship were soon acquired by the War Artists Advisory Committee (WAAC), and he was quickly made an official war artist. In 1943, he was captured in the Mediterranean and spent the rest of the war in a naval officer's prison camp, Marlag ‘O’ at Westertimke, near Bremen in north Germany.
In captivity, daily exercise was vital, both in physical and social terms. The prisoners’ main pastime was to plan escapes. Here their hunched postures suggest both the stinging February cold in northern Germany, and their plotting. Although not properly ratified until 1949, some of the rules of the Geneva Convention were already in effect, and the basic human rights of PoWs were observed. One clause allowed them to attempt to escape without fear of retribution if later recaptured, though they risked being shot during any attempt.