The family lived at Silver Street, where their one room was often flooded due to a nearby well, which overflowed during heavy rain.

His first job was at the Garrison Pottery, opposite the old Quaker Meeting House, where he received a wage of one shilling and sixpence a week.

He later moved to a weaving factory in Fitter's Row, but his constant hunger eventually drove him seek work at sea, as food was plentiful for sailors.

He swam to the captain, fastened the rope round him and helped him to the ladder which was hanging over the ship's side."

As a rescue sideline, he also joined Sunderland Lifeboat and Life Brigade services, where he assisted in saving a further 120 people.

Not only did he save several more people from drowning, he also helped blast away the rocks from below Lambton Drops, to make the entrance to the river easier to navigate, provided vital aid when the mines of County Durham flooded and was part of the rescue party dealing with the Tay Bridge disaster in 1879.

However, these were stolen in 1878, after Watts lent the collection to the James Williams Street Christian Lay Church for an exhibition at its annual bazaar.

Carnegie admitted Watts to his Hero Fund after learning of his reduced circumstances, which provided the pensioner with a "sizeable" income of 25 shillings a week.

Author Terry Deary presented a BBC programme about Watts in 2012 and campaigned for him to be memorialised in his native Sunderland.