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Lt. Henry Jackson Epworth DSC.
Royal Navy HMS Petard
Henry Jackson Epworth was born in Goole, Yorkshire in 1881. He started his naval career as a seaman in merchant ships before enlisting in the Royal Navy at age 15. By all accounts, he was a popular and accomplished sailor, becoming a navy boxing champion while serving in the China fleet, and often being in demand to entertain his shipmates, playing the banjo or mandolin. He was also diligent in learning his chosen profession, a fact noted by his commanding officer, who recommended him for further training. In 1912, he passed the necessary exams and was appointed a gunnery officer.
On 31st of May 1916 the British admiralty directed more than 100 warships to sail from their bases on the North Sea. Many sailors assumed they were on routine manoeuvres with little prospect of action. They were wrong: They were heading into The Battle of Jutland, the largest naval battle of WW1. The British ships had sailed following on the interception of decoded wireless signals that suggested the German High Seas Fleet was about to leave its base. The ships included the destroyer HMS Petard, part of the Battle Cruiser Fleet from Rosyth, led by Admiral David Beatty. Her torpedo officer was Henry Epworth.The fight itself began when one of Beatty's ships didn't notice a signal ordering it to change course. Shortly afterward, sighting a German destroyer in the distance, it fired the first shot of the battle at 1415 hrs. on May 31. Beatty had run into the German battle cruiser fleet, a scouting group for the High Seas Fleet, which was still out of sight over the horizon. The German ships turned South and Beatty gave chase, opening fire at a range of nine miles. In the ensuing long-range duel, two of Beatty's cruisers were lost after being hit by German shells. As the two fleets raced South, 12 destroyers, including HMS Petard, dashed from the British line to launch a torpedo attack. Simultaneously, German destroyers headed toward the British cruisers with the same intention. The two destroyer flotillas charged towards each other at a combined speed of more than 65 miles an hour with guns blazing and black smoke belching from their funnels. Torpedoes launched by HMS Petard and HMS Turbulent sank the German destroyer V29 and ripped a 40-foot hole in the hull of the battle cruiser Seydlitz. For the rest of his life, Henry Epworth claimed to have fired the first successful torpedo of the battle. As the destroyer attack ended, Beatty saw the main body of the German High Seas Fleet approaching. Immediately, he changed course, hoping to lead the German ships towards Britain's Grand Fleet, led by Admiral John Jellicoe, which was 40 miles to the North. Vice-admiral Reinhard Scheer, Commander-in-Chief of the High Seas Fleet, pursued Beatty's ships, assuming they were an isolated force he could easily destroy. At about 6 p.m., apprised of the situation by Beatty, Jellicoe sighted the approaching German armada. He must have been elated that the battle of the two great fleets he had been seeking was about to begin. But it was late in the day and time was against him. Jellicoe concentrated a devastating fire on the leading German ships. As the battle progressed, Scheer's fleet was silhouetted against the western sky while all he could see in the gathering darkness to the east were stabs of orange flame rippling across the horizon, accompanied by the constant thunder of guns. As night fell, he prudently withdrew. Jellicoe was unconcerned, confident that he was between the German fleet and its home base and that he could resume battle in the morning. While Jellicoe steamed South, Scheer decided to head straight for home, come what may. By chance, he passed to the rear of the British fleet, meeting little resistance. Along with six other ships in its group, HMS Petard had unknowingly become attached to a different destroyer flotilla. The commanding officer of this flotilla assumed he was at the head of a column of five ships when, in fact, there were 12. He tried to lead his column across the bows of what he thought was the British battle fleet when, in fact, it was the German battle fleet. The first 10 destroyers crossed safely, but the commanding officer of Petard, the next in line, suddenly saw, towering over him in the mist, the German battleship Westfalen on a collision course. He managed to cross ahead of the huge ship, putting Petard in a perfect position to launch a torpedo attack at point blank range. But Petard had already used all her torpedoes, the only destroyer in the group to have done so. She was unable to take advantage of the opportunity to maim or sink one of the most powerful battleships in the German fleet. Petard was now running for her life, and six shells from Westfalen's guns found their mark before she was out of range. Nine crew members were killed and six others wounded, including Henry Epworth who was hit in the left arm by a shell fragment. The next morning, on the 1st of June, Jellicoe searched in vain for the German battle fleet. Finally, he received a signal giving him the German fleet's position, a few miles from safety and too far away for him to intercept it. With no hope of a renewed engagement, he turned toward home. Jellicoe hadn't achieved the overwhelming victory the British public wanted but he had achieved a strategic victory, maintaining the fleet's command of the seas. For his role in the battle, Henry Epworth received the Distinguished Service Cross from King George V. Henry Epworth retired from the navy in 1931 and died in 1938.
