HE was soaked to the skin and desperate for food but that was the least of Harry Pooke's problems - he should have been thousands of miles away.

Somehow the young farmer had lost his luggage and cash and missed his boat.

It was late at night that a beat bobby discovered Pooke loitering in private gardens in Bassett Avenue, Southampton.

"Can you give me something to eat?" he begged.

"I'm a police officer," came the reply.

"Oh, I thought you were the steward."

The police constable took Pooke to the police station where it was confirmed he had booked a passage to New York on the SS Adriatic.

Inquiries revealed his father lived in England but he had moved to Canada some six years ago and became a farmer. But the previous summer, he had suffered severe sun stroke which led to a loss of memory.

Following advice, Pooke sailed back to Southampton where he was met by his father and taken to London where a specialist told him he must complete rest for six months.

However, magistrates heard in 1910 he was so keen to get back to his farm that the specialist reluctantly let him go and his father saw him off at Waterloo with his luggage and nearly £20 in cash.

"I can only assume his memory had given way again," his father reasoned as to why he had missed the boat and left destitute.

Pooke was conditionally discharged.