Evans, Able Seaman John Clow

Service highlights

  • Born: 25 July 1887, St. Marys, Ontario
  • Service number: VR/3626
  • Rank: Able Seaman
  • Unit: Royal Naval Canadian Volunteer Reserve
  • Enlisted: 26 July 1914
  • Died: 29 December 1917, while serving aboard H.M. Trawler “Sapper Herbert Bennett”
  • Memorial: Halifax Memorial, Panel 1
  • Commemorated locally: Cenotaph in St. Marys

A Life and Service Remembered

John Clow Evans grew up in St. Marys, but his path did not stay close to home. His younger Brother William ventured to Regina, then went on to university before joining the war effort, John’s path was headed west to British Columbia, taking whatever work he could find, including factory work in Cranbrook and later jobs in Vancouver. It is easy to imagine the mix of ambition and restlessness that pulled a young man across the country before the war even began.

In the summer of 1914, he volunteered for the newly formed Royal Naval Canadian Volunteer Reserve and went to sea in HMCS Rainbow. Rainbow had been involved in tense West Coast duties during the Komagata Maru incident in July 1914, a moment now remembered as a painful example of exclusionary immigration policy in Canada’s past. John joined the ship in that same period, stepping into a navy that was suddenly being asked to do far more than routine patrols.

After his time aboard Rainbow, John was posted to HMCS Niobe and served out of Halifax before being sent to England in 1917 and attached to the Royal Navy. He was eventually drafted to H.M. Trawler “Sapper Herbert Bennett,” a fishing vessel taken up for wartime patrol work. Those trawlers did dangerous, grinding work in the North Sea, long hours and harsh weather, always under the threat of mines and submarines.

John was lost on 29 December 1917 while serving aboard “Sapper Herbert Bennett.” His name is inscribed on the Halifax Memorial, Panel 1, among those whose graves are unknown. Veterans Affairs Canada records him as the son of William James Evans, of Toronto, Ontario. In St. Marys, his story is also held closer to home through local remembrance on the cenotaph along with his brother William.

Major battles and operations

  • West Coast naval operations during the Komagata Maru incident: July 1914
  • North Sea patrol operations aboard H.M. Trawler “Sapper Herbert Bennett”: 1917
  • Loss of “Sapper Herbert Bennett” and death of Able Seaman Evans: 29 December 1917

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