FOUR young sailors, killed when their ship sank in the First World War, have been remembered at a memorial service.

HMS Hawke was torpedoed byaGerman submarine in the North Sea on October 15, 1914.

Ernest John Rogers, of New Park Street, in New Town, Colchester, was killed, aged just 16, one of two Colchester 16-year-olds killed during the war.

He was a Boy First Class, the highest of three training categories for under-18s.

Marshall Allen, 19, from Berechurch, Fred Bitten, 20, from Great Horkesley, and Claude Sawkinds, 17, from Fingringhoe, also perished in the attack.

They were among 497 men killed, along with 26 officers and captain Hugh Williams.

More in today's Gazette.