Dates:
War Service:
Able Seaman JOHN FRASER WARD, Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve died on 12 September 1918 when the armed boarding steamer H.M.S. "Sarnia." was torpedoed in the Mediterranean. Armed boarding steamers were commercial vessels requisitioned by the Admiralty, fitted with guns and used to patrol sea routes on the lookout for merchant ships trying to evade the British blockade of German ports or attempting to lay mines in the the approaches to British or Allied ports.
He was lost at sea and is commemorated on the Chatham Naval Memorial.
Location of Memorial:
He is remembered on the memorial at St John’s church, Lewisham Way
Details:
He was the son of John and Violet Ward, of 73, Granville Park, Lewisham.
Another Lewisham resident, Engineer Sub-Lieutenant HAROLD BILSON, Royal Naval Reserve, also died on the 'Sarnia'.
Source:
Contributed By: Andy Pepper
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