Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1883-08-03
RISEN FROM THE SEA.
How the Dead Followed the King.

In Ill l was at Naples when an
Italian corvette. the Amirale Carac
ciolo. was launched at Castcllamare.
The vessel was christened by the
Countess Teresa Caracciolo, the
daughter of the chief of the elder
branch of the Caracciolo. Twas stay
ing at Naples as the guest Of the
young lady's father. and L heard
from him a very remarkable story
connected with the death Of the I'M
fortunate officer in honor Of whose
memory the vessel was named. The
circumstances which led to the eXec1l
ton of Prince Francesca Caracciolo
in 1893 are we'll known. shall
merely state. therefore. that he was
condemned by a court martial com
posed Of Sicilian officer to be hanged
at the yard-arm of the flag ship for
bearing arms against his lawful
sovereign. When the official commu-
nication of the finding and the sen
tence of the Court was brought to the
Prince. he was explaining the names
and Uses of the various parts of the
rigging to some young Neapolitan
nobleman who happened to be on
board the ship. A glance at the let
ter was sufficient to show him its con
tents. He showed no sign Of emo
ton, but requested the officer who
brought the dispatch t. wait for a
few minutes while he finished his ex
plantations. This being done. he re
tired to his cabin; and after a vain
attempt to get the sentence changed
to a more honorable manner of death,
he resigned himself to his fate, which
he met with great fortitude.
Some days after the event the King,
who had been for an afternoons
cruise on a Sicilian ship-ofwar out
side the bay, was returning to Naples
in the evening 1t was moonlight
night, and the sea was perfectly
calm. There was, indeed, SO little
wind that it was difficult to steer the
vessel. The King was sitting in the
balcony of the stern cabin, watching
the sea, when suddenly he became
aware that something was following
the ship. As the object came near it
was easy to distinguish that it was
the body of a man in an upright at
titude, as if treading the water; and
very soon the King was able to recog
nize the features of Admiral Carrac-
ciolo. His eyes were open and
seemed to be fixed on the King, and
except for its CHASTITY pallor, the face
was unchanged. The explanation
was simple. After being submurged
for some days the body had become
80 buoyant that the weights attached
to the feet were not sufficiently heavy
to keep it under water; but they re-
tanned it in an upright position, and
it was drawn along by the current
created by the movement of the ship.
It is easy to imagine the horror OF
Ferdinand at what he believed to be
an apparition from another world
When at length it was explained to
him what had happened, he gave
orders that a boat should be lowered
and the corpse should be brought on
board and taken to Naples for Chris
tian burial. But the superstitious
Sicilians dared not obey the royal
command, and the ship, drawing in
its wake the upright body of the Ad.
miral, sailed slowly into the Bay OF
Naples. Here a boats crew was OBJ
tanned from an English man-of-war,
who took the AdmiraI's body ashore,
where it was deposited in his own
palace, and at length received the
last rites of the Church.
A different version of the story is
given in Southey's Life of Nelson
1 have here related the traditional &C
count preserved in the family of the
Admiral exactly as it was told me by
its chief.