Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1882-12-06
The Phantom schoerer.

OF little smashes every year, and few
seasons pass without hundred or so
lives being lost. We often have long
talks about the chances We take, but
we're all ready to take them again when
navigation opens the next year. This
fall some vessel will strike where there's
neither boat nor crew to help the sail
Nrs. The ice viii he 4 foot thick on the
deck, the cabin full of water, and the
sails and ropes coated with ice so thick
hat we can't work her. The strong
ship will be lifted from the rocks and
dashed down again until she breaks to
pieces, and the fellows who have
worked for days against fate will drift
ashore one by one, aud they and their
ships will soon be forgotten y
This is what a sailor said to the old
sailor man one evening this spring, after
spinning the yarn that follows: He was
nere in the spring, one of the crew of
vessel loading timber at the Northwest
err booms for Garden Island. 1t was
growing dark and he sat on the bul-
warks of the vessel. The cold water
curled in little waves along the sides of
the bark. Up the bay steamer was
coming rapidly. and behind were lights
of the city, with the outline of the
mountains crest just visible in the fad
ing twilight. 1t was a story the like of
which one seldom hears, and even as he
told it, in his rough, broken dialect, it
was one of wonderful interest. The
many pauses while he sought for words
and the expression OF his face as his
story went on, coupled with his acting
the part for the want of language to
make 1t clear, gave it such wide and
picturesque force as several times
Obliged his hearer unconsciously to hold
his breath as he listened. And yet it Is
susceptible of an explanation.
You may not believe what l tell you,
but il is true for all that. / saw it my
self. and more OF the crew of the West
ern World saw it. too. You can't make
me believe that we are all mistaken,
because you don't know anything about
it, while we do. 1 say this because /
know you will be inclined to disbeIieve
my story. 1t is a strange one. The
Western World fitted out at Kingston
this spring and Captain Abe Malone
vss going to sail her. bat he had some
trouble with the owners and Captain
Dickson went in her. They were pay
ing union wages and Captain Dickson
was good man, and L thought when
shipped in her L would stay the whole
season. What I saw when made the
frst'trip will show you why 1 am now
one of the crew of the Siberia. The
Western World went hight up 20 Grand
NJ rrais for load of timber, and Martin
Kennedy and L joined her at st. Cath
crimes. We had never sailed in the
vessel before, but we liked her. She
was pretty nearly new, well found and
easily handled.
The captain l knew, for L had sailed
with him in the William Hope, but the
mate was bully from Garden Island.
We were one OF the first vessels up the
canal and the weather was rather cool
as it was early in the spring. 1t was
early In the morn1ng when we left Por'
Colborne, but we had nice working
breeze from the South and West. About
three o'clock the next morning l judged
We were off Point Pelee, though VT
couldn't see the light. ] wss on decl
and was talking to Martin, who wa
just going aloft. That's Martin there
standing near the mainmast, with rec
shirt on he left the World at the ssm'
time [ di1. Whea Martin started aiOfI
L turned around and looked ever tn.
lake. The Noon was shining ana ther.
was a slight mist on the water. Three
or four hundred yards away from on
sc .ooner L saw a ripple and splash.
thought it was fish jumping. but in
few minutes ] saw the fly of a schoone
rising from the water.
1t was fastened to a spar ana sOol
flied snd blew out, though it was We
and heavy. Then saw the tOpmasts o
q tliree-masted schooner, far bigge
than the Western World, rising iron
the lake. She came up very slowly AM
[ could see everything plainly in tn
bright moonlight. she was a big ves1e
and looked like one of those Buffalo fel
lows When she rose quite clear tn
water streamed from her decks and sh
gave a great groan, as if glad to be o
the surface once more. She had ever.
sail except her fore-gatf topsah, bu
her sails we're torn and mildewed. The
were full of ragged hoes, as if fish La
been rushing through them, and th
main boom was broken in two or thre
4 places, Dut INC IACSN0 "S-S oeAAA -''~
to the canvas. The water poured fror
her tattered canvas on to the decks wit
hollow plash. There vas a gaPin
hole in her side and her bulwarks wer
smashed; one OF her anchors Graggin
in the water held her head down little
She seemed to get slant Of win
that we hadn't, and she stood away fo
the south shore, reaching across on
bows. There was not soul on boar
this ghost of a schooner, and L don
know where she came from nor how sh
held her course. No sailor man stoo
at her wheel, but I could tell by Il
glittering of the brass on the spok'
J that it took half turn or so up.
don't know where she came from, G
cept that 1 saw her rise out OF the LAX
, and I don't think that any schoon
ever built by man would come up out
: the lake and saul away without a ere
1 ON board. When we we're seeming
L. tba x-ofar rfrShei in III