Current Information:

Age-20

Seaton Carew (Holy Trinity) Churchyard, County Durham

HMS Patrol was a scout cruiser of the Royal Navy and in 1914 was part of the 9th Destroyer Flotilla protecting the eastern coastline between the Firth of Forth and the Tyne, with their base at Hartlepool. The job of the lightly armoured HMS Patrol was to protect the destroyers. On 16th December 1914 the destroyers left harbour, without the protection of HMS Patrol and within a few hours came across two German battlecruisers and a cruiser whose mission was to bombard Hartlepool. The destroyers were out-gunned and chased off by the much more powerful German ships. HMS Patrol tried to go to their rescue but as she was leaving Hartlepool she was hit by two heavy German shells which killed four of her crew, including Ernest Cummings. The ship ran aground and was only saved from complete destruction when the German ships, SMS Seydlitz, SMS Moltke and SMS Blucher, broke off their action and sailed away after which HMS Patrol managed to limp into Middlesbrough docks.