Alone, cold and frightened, 13-year-old Peter Andrews feared for his young life as he drifted helplessly in a sinking dinghy four miles off Herne Bay.

It had all started out as a "boys will be boys" escapade when he and friends found a dinghy tied to a breakwater on Tankerton beach, which tempted the teenager to climb aboard.

But when it became untethered and began to drift away, the situation soon turned from a caper to a looming catastrophe.

Abandoned by his friends and with darkness falling, time was running out fast for Peter, who was left drifting for more than two hours, further and further out to sea while trying to bail out the water with his cap.

But then, out of the gloom, came the Jolly Roger with local fisherman Fred Fitt on board to rescue him in the nick of time.

Now 88, Peter has been moved to speak on the 75th anniversary of the episode, which he remembers "like yesterday".

And he regrets never having thanked Mr Fitt for saving him.

"I owe him my life, it's a simple that. If he hadn't had come out for me, I would have been a goner," he said.

The only record he has of it is a faded copy of a cutting from the local newspaper report from April 1945, which gives an account of what happened and Mr Fitt's prompt actions.

"I have never forgotten what he did and am just sorry I didn't ever see him again to thank him," said Peter.

Peter was born in Canterbury but moved to Clover Rise, Tankerton, as a boy with his mother, Ivy - his father having been tragically and ironically lost at sea in a passenger boat sinking.

Recalling the fateful day of the rescue, he said: "Some friends and I had built a boat which we decided to take down to the beach and try out.

"But when we got down there, we saw this dinghy tied up and, boys being boys, decided to play about in it.

"Unfortunately, it drifted out with me in it and that's when my problems really started.

"After a couple of hours and with darkness falling, I started to get really scared because the boat was leaking like a sieve and filling up with water.

"Apparently, a woman on the beach raised the alarm and the lifeboat was launched, but the crew got the message that Mr Fitt was on his way and were stood down.

"I cannot described my relief at seeing Mr Fitt, who was in his boat the Jolly Roger with a policeman.

"I was freezing cold and wet and wrapped in a blanked and taken back to shore. But I can tell you my mum wasn't very pleased when I got home and gave me a right telling off.

"But there is no doubt in my mind that had Mr Fitt not got to me when he did, the dinghy would have sunk and I would have drowned."

Peter went on to forge a long career in the RAF and met his future wife Joyce in Felixstowe. They married at All Saints Church in Whitstable 67 years ago.

Peter later worked as engineering consultant for the civil service and was later awarded an OBE.

The couple had two sons, Terry and Gary, but tragically lost Gary in 2006 in the RAF nimrod crash in Afghanistan, which killed 14 air crew.

Peter moved away from Tankerton with his career in the RAF and now lives in Northhamptonshire.

But after posting his memory of the rescue on the Whitstable and Tankerton Remembered Facebook page, it prompted a follower to reveal that Fred Fitt's daughter is Delia Fitt, who owns the Wheelers Oyster Bar in the town.

And now he has been able to speak to her to pass on his gratitude for her father's actions.

"It was lovely to chat with Delia and tell her all about what her dad did for me. She was just two at the time and when she was much older had only learned vague details that her dad had rescued a boy.

"I just wanted to be able to thank Mr Fitt's family for what he did and we hope to come down to Whitstable some time and meet Delia and have a cup of tea."

Delia added: "It was great to talk to Peter. It sounded a very frightening ordeal and he was lucky to survive.

"Sadly my father died in 1969, aged just 61. Some years earlier his van had been hit by a lorry and he suffered a fractured skull and could never work again and he went downhill after that with heart and respiratory problems."

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