WHORTON, Ebenezer

Ebenezer Whorton served in the Royal Navy as Leading Seaman in Submarine D3. It had been commissioned in 1911 and its duties in the Great War were those of patrolling. It operated with the Battle Fleet at the time of the Battle of Heligoland Bight in 1914 and was later in the English Channel. It was sunk on the 12th March 1918 as the result of mistaken identity. While on patrol off the French coast near F?camp it was spotted by a French airship. The submarine fired recognition rockets but these were mistaken for gun-fire. The airship then dropped four heavy bombs which hit the submarine. Men appeared in the water and the airship attempted rescue. However, it was too difficult and all men were lost. Leading Seaman Ebenezer Whorton was 28 years of age and is commemorated on the Plymouth Naval Memorial, the Dover Patrol Book of Remembrance and on the Dudley Memorial.