Robert qualified in Ireland in November 1917 and joined the R.A.M.C. shortly afterwards. [Lancet] On the evening of 9th October 1918, he along with Major Charles Duggan booked into Ross’s Hotel, Parkgate Street, in Dublin. Also staying at the hotel was Lieutenant Halse of the New Zealand Army, who had been hospitalised in Ireland for an injured left shoulder. To keep the shoulder in position he had his left arm clamped in an iron frame. Duggan, Bassett and Halse would travel on R.M.S. Leinster the following morning. The Irish Times of 12 October 1918 reported that Lieutenant Bassett put a lifebelt around Lieutenant Halse’s neck after the first torpedo struck. “Then the second torpedo exploded on the ship, and Mr Halse said to Mr Bassett ‘The only thing to do is to jump at once.’ Mr Bassett hesitated for a moment. Then he said to Mr Halse ‘Good luck’ and jumped off. Mr Halse immediately followed and the three gentlemen became separated. Mr Halse could not swim, but somehow he managed to float for about twenty minutes when a life-boat came along, crowded with people. For nearly three-quarters of an hour Mr Halse held on to the boat with his uninjured hand. He was then becoming exhausted, and told the seamen who seemed to be in charge of the boat that he could hold on no longer. Ropes were fastened around his body, and he was hauled in, suffering such agony with his wounded arm that he became unconscious. He recovered consciousness on the journey to Dublin, and is now in the Castle Hospital.” Lieutenant Bassett and Major Duggan were lost. Two sources, however, appear to suggest that the exact circumstances of Lieutenant Halse’s survival might have been slightly different from the newspaper report. Major Louis Daly mentioned Halse in his account of the sinking. However, he said that Halse jumped into the water with his servant “and, though he could not swim, his servant kept him afloat until they reached some wreckage, to which they clung until they were picked up.” It is course possible that both accounts are true and that Halse was accompanied by a servant/batman as well as by Bassett and Duggan. A letter sent to businessman Edward Lee, by a doctor at Dublin Castle, would appear to suggest that that the officer who put the lifebelt around Halse’s neck was Captain Robert Ernest Lee. Like Lieutenant Robert Bassett, Captain Lee was a R.A.M.C. doctor. Like Bassett, his first name was Robert. So it is possible that the authorities confused the two. It is of course possible Lee and Bassett both assisted soldiers who had their arms in splints. [Information researched and kindly provided by Philip Lecane (List of R.M.S. Leinster casualties also kindly provided by Philip Lecane)]