A HAVERIGG soldier had an astonishing struggle for survival at sea in 1917 as his ship was sunk and then the vessel which came to rescue him.

The drama unfolded in a letter from Pte Richard Bosanko, of Concrete Square, which was published in the Barrow News, on Saturday June 2 in 1917.

Pte Bosanko's ship had hit a mine not long after he had got aboard - then the British ship which went to pick up survivors hit another mine laid by a German submarine.

Four vessels were sunk in all, with Pte Bosanko eventually dragged from the water in an exhausted state.

Another Millom soldier Pte Kendal was on the Lanfranc and watched as the ships sank after straying into a minefield and thinking they were being attacked by torpedoes.

Pte Bosanko's letter home noted: "We had orders from an English port to proceed to Havre, France, for a convoy of wounded.

"Our ship, being rather a speedy one, was soon reporting 'France in sight'.

"Everything was cleared ready for receiving the convoy when there was an awful crsh right amidships.

"The sound I could not describe, but the ship shuddered fromsteam to stern and began to settle down very rapidly.

"The siren blew for 'boat stations' then 'abandon ship'.

"There was a heavy sea running and the small boats that were put out capsized.

"In three minutes after she was hit the ship healed over on her beam-ends, casting those that were lowering the boats into the sea.

"Four mintues later she was gone for ever.

"There were a few ships around but the sea was too heavy for them to render much assistance.

"We were just a mass of wreckage and human beings being tossed from wave to wave.

"I managed to keep afloat in the water - thanks to my knowledge of swimming - about an hour-and-a-quarter, though being carried out to sea by the current.

"Destroyers were on the scene picking up survivors.

"When they found me I was almost too exhausted and cold to grip the line but after a struggle I was got aboard and carried down below.

"They used artificial respiration to get the water out of me and then tucked me in a hammock.

"I was in the hammock about a quarter of an hour when there was another crash and the rending of steel.

"Someone called out that we were torpedoed.

"The only thing I knew of it was a blow in the back and a sharp pain down my hip but I was too numb and cold to look.

"How long I remained in that semi-conscious state I cannot say but later I managed to crawl up to the deck.

"The destroyer had been blown in two, according to what I afterwards learned in hospital.

"The aft portion sank almost immediately.

"I was in the fore part, the water-tight compartments keeping it afloat a little longer.

"What a sight. Her wreless was all broken down and the wreck was gradually heeling over. I was all alone.

"I could see another destroyer making towards me so I picked up a towel, which was lying on the deck and waved.

"They answered by signal but before help arrved the fore part of the vessel went under, leaving me in the water again.

"They threw me a lifebelt and soon hauled me aboard.

"The next thing I remembered was being in No. 2 General Hospital, Le Havre.

"They told me next morning that I had a wound on hip about 12 inches long and one on the back, besides a lot of bruises, which has kept me six weeks in bed, but they are healing up fine.

"I have been two-and-a-half years at sea in the medical work, in the operation theatre and as X-ray attendant, in different parts of the world - Gallipoli, Egypt and North Africa - but never have I had such an experience as this."

Richard Henry Bosanko appears on the 1911 census at 18 Concrete Square, Haverigg, as a 25-year-old iron ore miner.

He was living with Cornish-born parents William and Eliza.

Richard died in 1953 in Stockport, Cheshire, at the age of 67.

It looks certain that he was on the Red Cross-marked hospital ship HMHS Salta which hit a mine laid by the German submarine CC-26 at Le Havre at 11.43am on April 10 in 1917.

A total of 103 people died from the 205 on board.

Salta was a steam ship built for the Societe Generale de Transport Maritime Steam which was taken over by the British Admiralty in February 1915.

The ship which went to the rescue was not a destroyer but the Patrol Boat P-26 which also struck a mine and sank with the loss of 19 of the 59 on board.

Rescuing Pte Bosanko for a second time was HMS P-19.

The ship where Pte Kendal from Millom watched the drama was itself sunk by a torpedo 42 miles off Le Havre on April 17 in 1917. A total of 40 people died.

It was the hospital ship HMHS Lanfranc.