The weekly union record., 1865-10-21
The Haunted Ship.

C4uueu III LIS CoiltCltu WI hS. IL must
be new to most of our readers.
The world abounds with
ghost stories, but it is exceedingly diff
cult to get them at first hands-thet is
to say, from persons who have actually
seen the ghosts; this may be the reason
why they have fallen into discredit with
the dubious. | once, however, heard
story of the kind from one who came
within an ace Of being an eyewitness,
and who believed in it most honestly.
He was worthy Captain Of the sea, a
native either of Nantucket or Martha's
Vineyard, forget which at any rate.
a place noted for its breed of hardy
mariners. | met with him in the an
cient city of Seville, having anchored
with his brig in the Granddaughter, in
the course of a wandering voyage. Our
conversation, one day, turned upon the
wonders and adventures of the sea,
when he informed ne that, among his
multifarious cruisings, he had once
made a voyage on board of haunted
ship. 1t was vessel that had been
met with, drifting, half dismantled, and
with tagging sails, about the sea near
the Gulf of Florida, between the main
land and the Bahama Banks. Those
who boarded her found her without
living soul On board; the hatchways
We're broken open; the cargo had been
rifed the decks, fore and aft, were
covered with blood !; the shrouds and
rigging were smeared with the same, as
if some wretched beings had been mas
sacred as they clung to them. 1t was
evident that the ship had been plundered
by pirates, and, to all appearance, the
crew had been murdered and thrown
overheard.
The ship was taken possession of by
the finders, and brought to Boston, in
New England; but the sailors who
navigated her to port declare they
would not make such another voyage for
all the wealth of Peru. They had
been larassed the whole way by the
ghosts of the murdered crew who at
night would come up out of the compan-
ion-way and the forecastle, run up the
shrouds, station themselves on the yards
and at the mastheads, and appear to
perform all the duties of the ship.
As no harm had resultsd from this
ghostly seamanship, the story was
treated lightly, and the vessel was fitted
out for another voyage; but when ready
for sea, no sailors conld be got to en-
bark in her. She lay for some time in
Boston harbor, regarded by the super
stitious seamen as fated ship; and
there she might have rotted, had net
the worthy Captain who related to me
the story, undertaken to command her.
He succeeded in getting some hardy
tars, who stood in less awe of ghosts,
to accompany him, and his brother-in-
law sailed with him as chief mate.
When they got fairly to sea, the
Ihobgobin crew began to play their
pranks. At night there would be the
deuce to pay in the hold; such racket
ing and rummaging, as if the whole
cargo was overhauled, bales tumbled
about, and boxes broken open; and
sometimes it seemed as if all the ballast
was shifted from side to side. All this
was heard with dismay by the sailors,
and even the Captains brother law,
who appears to have been very saga
cious man, was exceedingly troubled at
it. As to the Captain himself, he hon
estly confessed to me that he never saw
or heard anything; but then he slept
soundly, and when once asleep, was
hard to be awakened.
Notwithstanding all these ghostly
vagaries, the ship arrived safely at the
destined end of her voyage, which was
one of the South American rivers under
the line. The Captain proposed to 60
in his boat to a town some distance up
the river, leaving his ship in charge Of
his brother-in-law. The latter said he
would anchor her opposite to an island
in the river, where he could go on shore
at night, and yet be on hand to keep
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