The Penn's Grove record., 1884-01-05
GhostIy ships at Sea.

"Do 1 believe In phantom ships? Yes,
l do.n The old sailor was emphatic,
so the reporter merely said, "Ahln
"There ANT as much Of that that sort OK Ok
shipping afoat as there used to be-"
continued the old man. 81 rather
guess steam vessels have sorter 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
ibid you ever see any ?"
eyes. Once, when 1 was second
mate of q bark bound from this port
to Caleatta / saw a phantom chip I 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 d 81 aaHy appearance;
and our SPAR aud sails Al we looked
aloft SCENE m0re like thJee Of sNs
phantom tsrs aat@ss .sari
take hold ii. There wess no Asiiea-
lions of ablow, ana we we're scudding
along with ON sks-saiis ana sSHdding-
sails set. l had the second dog wa
and just as eight bells struck and the
first watch came on deck to relieve me,
the lookout on to'gallant fo'castle
called out, sail ho.' Where away p
said 1. Three points on the lee-bow',
said he. looked and there she was,
a ship with high bulwarks and a tower
ing stern, of a build like the pictured
ships in history books. Her sails were
like clouds, her masts and spars like
streams of yapor. She came down on
us with marvellous rapidity. As she
neared us l stepped to the rail and sang
out, Ship ahoy = but no answering hail
came from the deck of the phaiItunf
craft and, sailing right against the
wind, she passed on and in three min
utes was lost to sight"
"What was it ?"
"The Flying Dutchman,"
"What is the Palatine light ?"
"Welll 1 thought everybody knew
what that was. You see in early colo
NAL times Block Island, off the coast
Rhode Island, was inhabited by wreck
ers. A ship called the Palatine, from
the Palatinate on the Rhine. loaded
with colonists, was lured on the rocks
by false lights and then piIlaged and
burned by the wreckers. Most OF the
colonists were lost. A few survived.
and to this day their descendants, for
some of them married the daughters of
the wreckers, are among the lnhabi-
tants OF the island. On a cliff over.
looking the scene Of the wreck are
several mounds called the Palatina
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 burn
ing in three columns of fame. | have
seen it with these very eyes-hundre1s
of others have seen it and explain it
as you VIII, 1t is an undo1bted fact that
the strange unearthly lights burn
there.n
THAT is good,n said the reporter F;
"give me another phantom ship"
well, in August, 1862, 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 vas lost. Now when
there is a similar storm there, the yes-
sells seeking shelter sail through the
midst of a phantom feet of those hun
bred fishing boats"
"Did you ever see them?"
mo, but l know people who have.n
You have heard, of course, of the
gnostly ship that used to sail, and some
times sails now, up Narragansett Bay /;
of Henry Hudson's Half Moon having
been zen at anchor under the Palisa-
deS 20
Cant say that l have"
well, people have told me that have
seen it,"