Name: Seymour Corning Crowell Rank: Midshipman, RCN Captain, NPAM Service Number: Officer Service: Royal Canadian Navy, Royal Navy, Non-Permanent Active Militia (Reserves) Date of Birth: July 10, 1901 Place of Birth: Yarmouth, Nova Scotia Date of Enlistment: May 16-18, 1917 Place of Enlistment: Halifax, Nova Scotia Age at Enlistment: 16 Date of Death: October 25, 1979 Age: 78 Cemetery: Mountain Cemetery, Yarmouth, Nova Scotia Seymour Corning Crowell was the son of Harold Seymour Crowell (1872-1960) and Laura (Henry) Crowell (1875-1912) of Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, the brother of Janet (Crowell) Morell (1904-1974), and the husband of Ethel Barbara (Robbins) Crowell (1916-1997). Cadet Seymour Crowell enrolled at the Royal Naval College of Canada (RNCC) in Halifax in May of 1917 and studied there in 1917 and 1918. He and his classmates were housed briefly at the Royal Military College in Kingston, Ontario after the Halifax Explosion in 1917. The college in Halifax was housed in a refurbished three-story brick building, the former naval hospital, at the north end of HMC Dockyard. The structure was built in 1863 to replace the original hospital, which was destroyed in an 1815 fire. However, the building was heavily damaged in the 1917 Halifax Explosion. Students at the college were taking exams during the week of the Explosion and the day session started late on December 6, 1917; a change of schedule that saved lives. The college and the Fleet Wireless School were moved out of Halifax . Seymour Crowell graduated from RNCC in June 1920 (with Distinguished marks in Navigation and Rifle Range and passing all other courses except French). He was assigned to train with the Royal Navy as a Midshipman. Seymour served aboard the battleships HMS Ajax and HMS Emperor of India, based in Malta, as well as the destroyer HMS Seraph in the Mediterranean, where the British were keeping a watchful eye on the tensions between Turkey and Greece. In September 1922 Seymour’s ship, HMS Ajax, was involved in evacuating refugees from Smyrna, an ancient Greek city on the Aegean coast of Anatolia (now known as İzmir, in Turkey). The city was occupied by Greek military forces from 1919-1922 to protect the local Greek population. The city was the site of the Great Fire of Smyrna, also known as the Smyrna Catastrophe, in 1922. Another Yarmouth County figure, nurse Sara Corning, is credited with assisting in the evacuation of Smyrna orphans. Seymour’s career as a naval officer was cut short as a result of him standing to close to the 13.5″ guns when they were fired – he was quite deaf for the rest of his life. There is also record of him travelling from Malta to London aboard the SS Mulbera in January 1923. While serving in the Canadian Militia in 1930, Seymour completed his Visual Telegraphy Course No. I training in Yarmouth, NS. He was serving as a Lieutenant, QMR at the time with the 6th Divisional Signals, Canadian Corps of Signals. In 1931, then serving as a Captain, he completed his Line Telegraphy Course from April 27 to June 9, 1931. Later in life, Seymour served as a volunteer and board member of the Yarmouth Museum. The Yarmouth County Museum and Archives holds numerous items from Seymour Crowell’s estate including his Midshipman’s dirk and journal, a photo album, his telescope, letters, and certificates from his training. His home near Lake Annis, in Yarmouth Co., NS was known as No 36 ‘Keeping Room’. He enjoyed sailing his sailboat on Lake Annis. Seymour died October 10, 1979, at the age of 78 and is interred at the Mountain Cemetery in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia.

Sources: findagrave UK, Navy Lists, 1888-1970