A POIGNANT new piece in the puzzle of a submerged vessel in the Lancaster Canal has emerged.

As reported in last week's Gazette, divers are offering their expertise to establish the identity of a sunken boat at Field End, Stainton, near Kendal, and its possible links to the 1920 diphtheria epidemic.

Now, a local farmer has said that the boat in question was sunk deliberately because a little girl had died on board.

Frank Sanderson, public relations officer for the Lancaster Canal Trust, told the Gazette that he heard the story last weekend while talking to local farmers at the annual Endmoor senior citizens' party.

" According to one of them, the boat in question at Field End was sunk purposely because a little girl had died on board and there was no means of fumigating it in those days," said Mr Sanderson.

Last week the Gazette reported that 90-year-old Kendal man Wadeson Barrow remembered his father-in-law telling him that the barge was sunk because it was infected with diphtheria.

Local divers are hoping to explore the mystery vessel at Field End Bridge, which is located in a shallow turning area or 'winding hole' full of horsetail weed. The stretch of canal is to be dredged ahead of the National Trailboat Festival, which starts on the Lancaster Canal on May 30.

Early speculation about the sunken boat suggested that it may have been a hospital ship for transporting the bodies of local diphtheria victims, although this theory has been discounted by some people.

Mr Sanderson told the Gazette: "Certainly, in the 1914-18 war, wounded soldiers were transported by canal, as this was a safe and smooth way, rather than by rickety carriages, or farm carts over rough roads.

"This story has created considerable response from older people in the community and a story emerges that a little girl may have died on board and the barge was sunk by the owners as there was no means of fumigating against the deadly diphtheria in those days.

"This story is ongoing and divers are preparing to investigate, but perhaps other canal communities have similar stories and it would be interesting to hear them."