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.
Worsley continued to record the war while in captivity He received artistic supplies from the Red Cross and his talents were employed for the decoration of the barracks. Other goods were used to build makeshift heating systems. The men were very resourceful in organizing entertainment to fend off boredom and despair, the twin evils of captivity. They made ship models which they raced on the water reservoir.