WWI DEATH PLAQUE TO ERNEST WILLIAM NATHAN HARDING, H.M.S. LOUVAIN

Ernest William Nathan Harding was the son of John and Frances Harding of 6 Newland Terrace, Queen's Rd., Battersea and served as an Ordinary Seaman aboard armed boarding steamer H.M.S. Louvain.

In the Kea Channel on 20 Jan 1918 with over 70 Maltese crew members, the ship was torpedoed by UC-22. Hit on her port quarter she began to sink rapidly by the stern. 224 crew members were killed.

A Reuters telegram from Malta, dated 26 Jan says:- "So far as is known 70 Maltese are missing as the result of the loss of the Louvain. These included practically all naval ratings from assistant engineers to ordinary seamen, of whom 24 formed part of the crew, while the remainder were intended for disposal among the ships of the the Fleet. Since the Battle of Jutland, this is the heaviest loss Malta has sustained at any one time during the war."