Typed Letter Signed ('Ruth Knowles'), a reference for her 'ship-keeper' William Stilwell. With four photographs of her barquentine 'Friendship' ('Emma Ernest'), moored at Charing Cross, and typed reports, with newspaper cuttings, by Stilwell's son.

An interesting collection of material relating to an extraordinary woman whose exploits deserve recognition. According to one obituary Mitchell (sister of American General 'Billy' Mitchell) was 'he only foreign woman to serve with the Chetniks', for whom she acted as a dispatch rider. Captured by the Gestapo while swimming at Dubrovnik, 'still in her bathing suit, and with papers on her that would have caused her to be executed without trial, she turned to the agents and asked: "Gentlemen, you will permit me to change my trousers?" They agreed. "In that instant, I got rid of my papers", she later recounted. After a court-martial, however, she was condemned to death. | "Under certain circumstances", Miss Mitchell told her judges, "it is an honor to be shot". She defended herself in excellent German and so astounded the court that instead of being executed she was sent to prison. In 13 months, she was transferred to 12 different prisons, many of them in Germany. She was finally released in 1942 as a result of pressure from the Swiss Government and returned to the Unite States where reports of German atrocities and torture were widely disseminated.' Mitchell's status as model for the character 'Mrs Gerda Millett' in the film 'The Yellow Rolls-Royce' has not been previously noted. Slight staining to all three items. Letter: 4to, 1 p. On aged paper with chipping and closed tears to extremities. Ornate letterhead with illustration of globe and ship and printed matter across head and in left-hand margin, in which Knowles is named as 'Skipper' of 'The Clippership "Friendship," Charing Cross Pier, London.', and the 'purpose' of 'World Explorers Ltd' ('Non-Profit Making') is given as 'By the co-operation of Governments and Local Authorities, so to reduce the cost of travel as to make it a practical part of every average education.' Stilwell's reference is complimentary. He has questioned in red ink the description of the boat as a 'Clippership' ('A Barquentine 109' long, in Lloyd's Register 1876-1934 as the "Emma Ernest" | Some "Clippership"!') and Knowles's right to be called a 'Skipper' ('No BOT Certificates to my knowledge.') With two typed reports by James Stilwell, each one page on a leaf, 29.5 x 18.5 cm. The first report (19 lines) is headed 'Emma Ernest', and gives a history of the ship, which was acquired by Knowles around 1929: 'Masts unshipped for the trip up the Thames to moorings at Charing Cross pier for use as a floating club house in connection with Mrs Knowles' International Friendship organisation. [...] Mrs K as owner right up to 1934.' Beneath the report is a magazine photograph, 10.5 x 17.5 cm, of the boat moored on the Thames, with the sweep of London to St Pauls behind it. Laid down on the reverse are the four original photographs. Two of these (both 8.5 x 13.5 cm, one landscape and one portrait) show the boat on the Thames with the flags of the world in her rigging. The other two photographs (both 8 x 5.5 cm) are deck shots with individuals. The second report (33 lines), stamped '06 OCT 1988' is headed 'Mrs R. Knowles', and includes personal information: 'My Father first saw the vessel at Charing Cross pier and imagined that she was going somewhere [...] He obtained employment with Mrs Knowles and we spent May-Dec 29 down at Ramhurst Manor where he did shipwright work [...] When we knew her she was married to Sam Knowles who taught Mathematics at the Tonbridge Public School. My Mother acted as Housekeeper/Cook, Maud Quick was the maid and Larkin was the chaufeur of 'KO 6568. My Father ship-keeper at Charing Cross -30. Lost contact 1931.' The report end, regarding the film 'The Yellow Rolls-Royce', 'In the film her final owner was a really 'get-up-and-go' American woman (played by Ingrid Bergmann) who linked up with a Yugo partisan (Omar Sherif [sic]) using her yellow RR to get him out of Austria to where he belonged. The resemblance to our 'Mrs Knowles' is really very close.' Laid down on the leaf is a cutting from 'Life' magazine, with photograph, relating to Knowles's joining of 'the secret society of Serb patriots called Chetniks': 'In a peasant hut near Belgrade, [...] Ruth Mitchell was handed a phial of poison and a black fur hat with silver skull-and-crossbones emblem.' On the reverse of the leaf are laid down three cuttings, two relating to Knowles's home of Ramhurst Manor, and the third with a photograph (11 x 11.5 cm) showing Knowles at the wheel of the boat ('the clubhouse of the Honourable Company of Friendly Adventurers'), 'wearing her new uniform, which has been specially designed'.