Mrs Rose Dent of Athelstone, South Australia recounted to leading author and journalist John PInkney her tale of how her lover reached out from the other side of the world at the time of his near death.

It was December 1941. One night a night Ill never forget I dreamed that my fiance Bill, who was a seaman on the Repulse appeared at my bedroom door. His hair was wet. I saw that his face was white and that he was dressed in a long black sou'wester. 'He was clearly distressed and stretched out to touch my hand. But something prevented us from reaching each other. 'It was as if a thick pane of glass separated us. Then Bill simply vanished and I woke from the nightmare trembling, sensing something terrible had happened.

'At that time I was employed at a match factor in Dublin. When I arrived at work, all the girls were crying. They'd just heard on the radio that Bill's ship, the Repulse, had gone down. 'Id never had a psychic experience before but i had no doubt that Bill had managed to contact me one last time before he died. 'I remained convinced for fifteen months that he'd been drowned. But then in March 1943 I got wonderful news. I received a letter from Bill, through the Red Cross, saying "I am alive and well" He’d been rescued from the sinking ship and later taken prisoner in Singapore by the Japanese.

'After the atom bombs ended the war, Bill came home. We married, migrated to Australia and had three children. In later years we often discussed my astonishing dream.

Bill confirmed to met hat had been wearing a black sou'wester when the Repulse went down and that he came very close to drowning. But he had absolutely no memory of visiting me in my bedroom. 'However, I've always been convinced that an unconscious part of him, believing death was near, somehow traveled thousands of miles around the planet to say goodbye.'