<i>A French sailor carrying fresh pineapples on board the submarine depot ship HMS MERCATOR at Freetown, Sierra Leone, August 1943.</i><br><p>A French submariner rating carrying fresh pineapples on board HMS MERCATOR at Freetown, Sierra Leone. HMS MERCATOR, a three masted barquentine, has been commissioned by the Royal Navy as a floating rest home for submarine men when their ships return to harbour after Atlantic patrol.
The Mercator was owned by the Belgians, after the war, the ship returned to his owner. 
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The ship is now a museum, but it still sails like 100 years ago.
Royal Navy official photographer
<p><a rel="nofollow" class="external free" href="http://media.iwm.org.uk/iwm/mediaLib//30/media-30236/large.jpg">http://media.iwm.org.uk/iwm/mediaLib//30/media-30236/large.jpg</a>
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<td>This photograph <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205186621">A 18857</a> comes from the collections of the <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.iwm.org.uk/">Imperial War Museums</a>.
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