667 B. From Phantasms of the Living, vol. ii. p. 227. The next account is from Commander T. W. Aylesbury (late of the Indian Navy), of Sutton, Surrey. The case, at first sight, (says Gurney) may seem as if it belonged to the reciprocal class; but Commander Aylesbury's vision did not include enough detail to justify us in regarding it as other than subjective, the scene being apparently such as he might naturally have conjured up.

December 188a.

The writer, when thirteen years of age, was capsized in a boat, when landing on the island of Bally, east of Java, and was nearly drowned. On coming to the surface, after being repeatedly submerged, the boy called his mother. This amused the boat's crew, who spoke of it afterwards, and jeered him a good deal about it. Months after, on arrival in England, the boy went to his home, and while telling his mother of his narrow escape, he said, "While I was under water, I saw you all sitting in this room; you were working something white. I saw you all - mother, Emily, Eliza, and Ellen." His mother at once said, " Why, yes, and I heard you cry out for me, and I sent Emily to look out of the window, for I remarked that something had happened to that poor boy." The time, owing to the difference of E. longitude, corresponded with the time when the voice was heard.

Commander Aylesbury adds: -

I saw their features (my mother's and sisters'), the room and the furniture, particularly the old-fashioned Venetian blinds. My eldest sister was seated next to my mother.

I think the time must have been very early in the morning. I remember a boat capsized the day before, and washed up. The mate said we would go and bring her off in the morning, but the exact time I cannot remember. It was a terrible position, and the surf was awful. We were knocked end over end, and it was the most narrow escape I ever had - and I have had many; but this one was so impressed on my mind with the circumstances - the remarks and jeers of the men, - " Boy, what was you calling for your mother for? Do you think she could pull you out of Davy Jones's locker," etc, with other language I cannot use.

The following is an extract from a letter written to Commander Aylesbury by one of his sisters, and forwarded to us, in 1883: -

I distinctly remember the incident you mention in your letter (the voice calling " Mother"); it made such an impression on my mind, I shall never forget it. We were sitting quietly at work one evening; it was about nine o'clock. I think it must have been late in the summer as we had left the street door open. We first heard a faint cry of "Mother"; we all looked up, and said to one another, "Did you hear that ? Some one cried out 'Mother.'" We had scarcely finished speaking, when the voice again called, "Mother," twice in quick succession, the last cry a frightened, agonising cry. We all started up, and mother said to me, " Go to the door and see what is the matter." I ran directly into the street and stood some few minutes, but all was silent and not a person to be seen; it was a lovely evening, not a breath of air. Mother was sadly upset about it. I remember she paced the room, and feared that something had happened to you. She wrote down the date the next day, and when you came home and told us how near you had been drowned, and the time of day, father said it would be about the time nine o'clock would be with us.

I know the date and the time corresponded.

The difference of time at the two places is a little more than seven hours; consequently nine in the evening in England would correspond with "very early in the morning" of the next day at the scene of the accident. But the incident happened too long ago for memory to be trusted as to the exactitude of the coincidence.