McClelland Barclay made the following sketches that he titled, "Heroes of the South Seas," between late 1942 and June 1943. He mailed them to a friend in the United States shortly before his death aboard LST-342 on 18 July 1943. In August of that year, this friend informed the Navy of her possession of the sketches and suggested they be published in book form, with any profits turned over to Navy Relief. Possibly this had been Barclay's intention as well. The sketches were delivered to the Navy's Office of Public Relations (Pictorial Section). In the mid-1980s, they were transferred to the Navy Art Collection. Navy Art is unaware that these images were ever published, or even displayed publicly until now.
The labels underneath the images are transcriptions of Barclay's handwritten notes, jotted down on the same sheet of paper where he sketched. Text in italics indicates that Barclay is quoting his subject.
