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3 Oct 2014

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The Gaul Tragedy 2: Sheila Doone



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Sheila Doone not only lost her husband in the Gaul tragedy but she's not being allowed to get on with her life ... and re-marry.

Image: Sheila Doone with Ernest
Sheila Doone with Ernest today

Image: Sheila and John Doone
Sheila and John Doone, early 1970's

John Doone was just 34 when he left Sheila and their children aged 7, 5 and 2 to go to work as a wireless operator on The Gaul.

It was a shock when she heard the news that The Gaul had gone down and that a search was underway. Sheila was left waiting and wondering but she heard nothing and John never did return.

In 1982 Sheila received a call from the daughter of one of John's work colleagues, Alan, saying that he had seen John at a pub on the docks in S.Africa - 4 years after The Gaul had sunk! Sheila just doesn't know what to make of the sighting - she knows Alan as an honest man but it just doesn't make sense...

It is this 'sighting' that is causing all the problems... keeping Sheila in a mess of red tape, unable to marry the man whom she has come to rely on and love. The government want her to divorce a 'ghost' - her dead husband - before she can marry Ernest.

Listen to Sheila Doone's story


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Listen to last week's story of The Gaul Tragedy




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