Stoker 1st Class K/7502 Harry Whiting

BMD details:
Date of birth: 11 Apr 1892. Marriage: 4th Qtr 1911 Harry Whiting to Edith A West at Wellingborough, Northamptonshire. Vol 3b - Page 356.

Family details:
Son of the late Mr. and Mrs. W. Whiting, of 30, North St., Rushden, Northants; husband of Edith Alice Whiting, of 79, Albion St., St. Helens, Lancs.

Census details:
1901 - 8 years old Harry is living at 20 North Street, Wellingborough, Northamptonshire with parents William (39), Harriet (33) and four siblings: John E (12), Sidney J (5), William S (4), Herman (1). 1911 - Sees 18 years old 'Stoker' Harry based at HMS Sentinel, Lower Trot Stamoaze, Devonport. He is shown as 'single' at this point.

[pic]imgs/S1PWHYAOTV/D5_zps947072fd.jpg[/pic][caption]H.M. Submarine D5[/caption] HMS D5 was a British D Class Submarine Built by Vickers in Barrow. D5 was laid down on 23 February 1910, launched on 28 August 1911 and was commissioned on 19 February 1911. Sinking D5 met her fate 2 Miles (3.2 km) south of South Cross Buoy off Great Yarmouth in the North Sea. She was sunk possibly by a stray British Mine or by a German mine laid by SMS Strasund on 3 November 1914 after responding to a German attack on Yarmouth by cruisers. There were only five survivors, including her Commanding Officer Lt Commander Godfrey Herbert. 21 of her crew perished. The bombardment, (of Great Yarmouth) which was very heavy and aimed at the civilian population, was rather ineffective, due to the misty weather and only a few shells landed on the beaches at Gorleston. The German warships approached and fired on our old friend, the torpedo-gun-boat HALCYON (see UB 27). In response, the submarines D3, E10 and D5 - the latter being under the command of Lt.Cdr. Godfrey Herbert, were ordered out into the roadstead to intercept the enemy fleet. (Cdr. Turner DSO in D3 witnessed events as they unfolded: I was woken at daylight by gunfire and found on arrival at the conning tower, that a German squadron was bombarding Yarmouth. We were ordered out to our patrol areas, E18 to the Skagerrak, D5 and D3 to the Bight. Anyway on leaving harbour, E18 steered a northerly course, while D3 and D5 proceeded eastwards. On clearing the shoals, I was leading D5 half a mile astern of me. We met the returning fishing fleet. They were waving and sounding their horns and calling out Mines, Mines Everywhere. I altered course to northward and I watched D5 put her helm over to follow suit. As she did so, a mine exploded aft. There was a cloud of black smoke and the boat had simply disappeared. The explosion was bad enough to unseat the master Kingston-valve on my port side. The saddle tanks flooded and D3 took on a dangerous list. As a drifter had immediately closed the position where D5 had gone down, I got all my crew on deck - less the minimum needed to operate the boat - and proceeded to clear the minefield. The explosion had occurred two miles south of South Cross Sand Buoy, off Yarmouth, possibly the result of striking a loose British mine. On returning to harbour and going alongside, to my surprise there was Bertie Herbert in a fishermans gansey. He and five others had been picked up, his coxswain having been shot out of the tower and, although insensible, kept afloat by the air trapped in his oilskin coat. [pic]imgs/S1PWHYAOTV/K7502_Harry_Whiting.jpg[/pic] [center][pic2]imgs/S1PWHYAOTV/Whiting_zps435e0c83.jpg[/pic2][/center][caption]The panel on the Plymouth Naval Memorial bearing the name of Stoker 1st Class Harry Whiting[/caption]