Lives of the First World War

known 18th November 1917

On 9 August 1917 Harry was sent on draft to HMS Candytuft, a 1,290-ton Anchusa class convoy sloop ship with a crew of 97 men and an armament of 2 4in and 2 12-pounder guns. Newly launched in May of that year the Candytuft was a part of the Q-ship operations, an exciting and heroic part of the war at sea. It had been purpose built for Escort Duties being deliberately designed to resemble merchantmen, while having hidden weapons and thereby deceiving enemy U-boats into vulnerable attacking positions. It was three months later, as HMS Candytuft was escorting the SS Tremayne from Gibraltar to Malta on 18 November 1917 that both vessels were attacked by a German submarine. A torpedo was fired at the Tremayne and missed but struck the Candytuft on the starboard quarter, blowing off her stern and killing or wounding all the officers save Commander Cochrane and Lt. Phillips. A second torpedo fired approximately half an hour later from U-39 struck the sloop as she was slowly heading for the beach near Bougie, Algeria and blew a hole just forward of the bridge causing her to break in two, the bow portion sinking immediately. The remnant of the ship then grounded. Panic gripped the younger members of the crew who had already left their stations well before the order to abandon ship was given, an offense that was later to see some severely punished, but Harry was not one of them. In the letter posted to his parents living at Rose Cottage, Hardway, notifying them that their son, Harry, had been killed in action, Permanent Secretary O. Murrey wrote on behalf of the Admiralty, "I am commanded by their lordships to convey to you an expression of their appreciation of your son's devotion to duty in remaining by his gun and ship until the last." Two years later in the Supplement to the London Gazette dated 30 June 1919 Able Seaman Harry Victor Fowler R.N. is listed as being mentioned in Dispatches. Harry was twenty years old when he died. He has no known grave but the sea, however the Commonwealth War Graves Commission commemorates his name in perpetuity on the Naval Memorial at The Hoe, Plymouth. His name is to be found there on Panel 21 in Column 1. He is also remembered with honour in his home village on the Brewham War Memorial.

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