The mysterious identity of a sailor, who sent a Christmas card to his best friend from the mighty HMS Hood, has been revealed.

In The Northern Echo earlier this week, Joan Leyland of Sedgefield, County Durham, appealed for information about the card sent to her late father, Cecil Franks, from the ship which sank in May 1941.

The card, found among some old photographs, was signed by Bob but Mrs Leyland knew no more about the man and his connections with her father.

Avid Northern Echo reader Lillian Atley saw the appeal for information and recognised the mysterious Bob as her brother, William Harkess, who went down with HMS Hood.

She said: "I couldn't believe it when I opened the paper and saw his photograph.

"I have one a Christmas card identical to the one sent to Mr Franks as well as another one with two dogs on it which was also sent from HMS Hood to my other brother when he was in Burma."

William Harkess, known as Robbie by his family, left the pits in 1938 to sign up to the navy.

He was just 23 years old when HMS Hood was involved in a naval battle with the German battleship Bismark and sank.

There were only three British survivors of the terrible battle but sadly Mr Harkess died.

Mrs Atley is the youngest of seven children and only five of them are still alive.

The family were born and brought up in Horden, near Peterlee where Mrs Atley still lives in one of the old miners' cottages.

Mrs Leyland believes her father may have met Mr Harkess in Horden as his family lived there for a while before moving to Durham.

Amazingly her father's two brothers, Ernest and Lesley still live in Horden.

Mrs Leyland said: "It is great to hear a bit more about Bob. It would be lovely to meet up with Mrs Atley to talk about our relations and see if there are any more connections between our two families."