Smyrna times. [volume] (Smyrna, Del.) 1854-1987, 1883-12-05
GhoStly Ships at Sea.
AN OLD SAILORS TALES OF PHANTOM
CRAFT-sToRIEs OF THE COAST.

do l believe in phantom ships :
Yes, do"
The old sailor was emphatic, so the
reporter merely said, "Ahr
There amt as much of that sort OF
shipping afoat as there used to be-
continued the old man. 81 rather
guess steam vessels have sorte scared
'em off the ocean. But still there's a
good many more than you'd think, and
more than l like to see going about"
Did you ever see any?
Yes. Once, when l was second
mate of bark bound from this port to
Calcutta, | saw phantom ship l shall
never forget. We were nearing the
Cape of Good Hope. The wind was
light and the weather was thick. That
night when the sun set and the moon
rose, the mist that hung over the water
gave everything a CHASTITY appearance,
and our spars and sails as we looked
alott seemed more like those of some
phantom vessel than things YOU could
take hold of There were no indica-
lions OF blow, and we were scudding
along with our sky-sails and studding-
sails set. had the second dog watch,
and just as eight bells struck and the
hrst watch came on deck to relieve me.
the lookout on the to'gallant fo'castle
called out, Sail hop Where away p
said l. Three points on the lee bow
said he. | looked and there she was. a
ship with high bulwarks and a tower
ing stern, of build like the pictured
ships in history books. Her sails were
like clouds, her masts and spars like
streaks OF vapOr. She came down on
us with marvellous rapidity. AS she
neared us, | stepped to the rail and
sang out, Ship ahoyr but no answer
ing hail came from the deck of the
phantom craft and, sailing right against
the wind, she passed on, and in three
minutes was lost to sight"
What was it?"
The Flying Dutchman."
What is the Palatine light ?"
Well thought everybody knew
what that was. You see in early
colonial times, Block Island, off the
coast of Rhode Island, was inhabited
by wreckers. A ship called the Pala,
tine, from the Palatinate of the Rhine.
loaded with colonists, was lured on the
rocks by false lights and then pilIaged
aud burned by the wreckers. Most of
the colonists were lost. A few sur
vived, and to this day their descend
ants, for some of them married the
daughters of the wreckers, are among
the inhabitants of the island. On a
cliff overlooking the scene of the wreck
are several mounds called the Palatine
graves where some of the bodies that
were washed ashore are buried. Now.
ON the anniversary of the wreck of the
Palatine, the watchers on shore see a
ship on the rocks beneath the cliff
burning in three columns of flame. 7
have seen it with these very eyes-hun-
dreds OF others have seen it; and ex-
plain it as you will, it is an undoubted
TACT That the strange unearthly lights
bum there"
m
That is good" said the reporter;
give me another phantom ship"
Well, in August, 1852, a fishing
fleet from the Grand Banks was over
taken by a storm and put into st.
Mary's Bay for shelter. AS is frequent
ly the case in those ATTITUDES, the storm
was accompanied by a thick fog and
the fleet of 100 boats was lost Now
when there is similar storm there.
the vessels seeking shelter sail through
the midst of a phantom fleet of those !
hundred fishing boats"
Did you ever see them?"
No, but 1 know people who have.
You have heard, of course, of the
ghostly ship that used to sail, and
sometimes sails now, up Narragansett
Bay; of Henry Hudson's Half Moon
having been seen at anchor under the
Palisades ?"
Cant say that have"
Well people have told me that have
seen it.u