A PLAY is being staged to mark the centenary of the sinking of a hospital ship off the East Coast, as it made its way to Dunkirk.

York Settlement Community Players are to stage the premiere of Graham Sanderson’s play, based on true events surrounding the rescue from HMHS Rohilla, near Whitby in 1914.

Although the ship was only wrecked about 600m offshore, conditions were appalling and it became one of the greatest rescue attempts in the history of the Royal National Lifeboat Institute (RNLI).

The play, Rohilla, follows the story of fictional characters Amy Potts - a young Whitby woman - and her sweetheart Charlie Porter, who is fighting with The Green Howards on the front line in Belgium.

The play will open at Whitby’s James Cook Theatre at Whitby Coliseum on November 8, to mark the 100th anniversary since the ship ran aground on October 30.

After touring Whitby and Scarborough, the play will return to York and be performed at the city’s Friargate Theatre on Friday, November 21 and Saturday, November 22.

Whitby author, Colin Brittain, has also recently released a re-edited book on the rescue, Into the Maelstrom, the Wreck of HMHS Rohilla. He has spent three decades researching the stricken ship after first becoming interested in the story of the ship when diving around the wreck site.

Signed copies of his book are available from Whitby Lifeboat Station and from Whitby Bookshop on Church Street and Holmans book shop on Skinner Street in the town. Mr Brittain is making a donation to the local lifeboat station with each book sold.