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A Royal Canadian Navy Historical Project
They made the Ultimate Sacrifice
EBBS, Wilfred Arthur, AB, VR5328, RNCVR, died - 30 Oct 1918, HMCS GALIANO - Son of William and Mary Ebbs, of Nelson, BC.
On 29 Oct 1918 the GALIANO was sent with supplies to the light house at Triangle Island off Cape Scott at the northwestern tip of Vancouver Island. A number of her regular crew were unable to make the trip due to illness as the 1918 flu pandemic had reached her base at Esquimalt. She set out towards the Queen Charlotte Islands from Triangle Island at 5 pm on Oct 29th. When she made her only distress call at 3 am the next morning, she was estimated to be within visual range of the light at Cape St. James 95 miles from Triangle Island. She was never heard from again and went down with the loss of all hands.
Able Seaman Ebbs is buried in the Nelson Memorial Park Cemetery, Nelson, BC.
From the The Daily Colonist, Victoria B.C., November 1, 1918
The following wireless message was received from the whaling tender Gray at 3:47 yesterday afternoon: "Whalers went out to positions I gave this morning and met the G.F. Foster, a trawler, which accompanied them and picked up one dead body foul of a life jacket. Soon after picked up engine room skylight which without a doubt is the GALIANO's. No more wreckage in sight. Weather thick and dirty."
Yesterday evening at 5 o'clock the following message was received from the Ikeda wireless station: "Gray advises clothing on body picked up is marked W.H. Ebbs, a sailor."
Ships served in:
First World War Casualty Index - RCN
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For Posterity's Sake 
