Ernest Edward Waters

An Able Seaman with H.M.S. Ettrick, Ernest died on 7th of July 1917 at the age of 22. 

Ernest was born at Lowestoft on 31 January 1895, a son of Walter Henry and Emma Jane Waters. He was baptised at Saint Margaret’s Church on 17 March 1895 and his family lived at 38 Melbourne Road, and this was still their home in 1901. Later his parents lived at 73 Beresford Road.

Ernest was working as an errand boy when he joined the Royal Navy, as a Boy 2nd Class, on 5 October 1910. When the First World War began he was serving on H.M.S. Swiftsure and took part in operations at Gallipoli in 1915. On 15 August 1916 he joined H.M.S. Ettrick. 

On 7 July 1917 H.M.S. Ettrick was in the English Channel and was struck by a torpedo which blew off the ship’s bows. The ship did not sink, but 48 crew, including Ernest, were killed, and another man died later. 

Some sources suggest the Ettrick struck a mine, but the official report concluded that the ship had sustained damage from a torpedo. 

Ernest's father, Walter, served in the Royal Naval Reserve in World War One and was a fire watcher in World War Two and was killed in an air raid in 1943.