First Name: | Ernest Walter | Last Name: | WITHERS | |
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Date of Death: | 26/11/1914 | Lived/Born In: | Willesden | |
Rank: | Able Seaman | Unit: | HMS Bulwark | |
Memorial Site: | 1. Willesden, St Mary 2. Portsmouth Naval Memorial | |||
Current Information:Age-19 1, Keylock Mansions, Heron Road, Willesden
HMS Bulwark was a Royal Naval battleship which had entered service in 1902 and in November 1914 was part of the 5th Battle Squadron patrolling the North Sea. At 7.50 am on 26th November she was moored close to Sheerness when she was destroyed by a series of explosions that killed over 700 of her crew with only 14 surviving. A court of enquiry established that the ammunition for her guns had been stored incorrectly and that heat from a nearby boiler room bulkhead had caused a cordite charge to explode and from then on it was a chain reaction. Over 60 of those killed, including Ernest Withers, came from London. |
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