The Delaware ledger. (Newark, Del.) 1879-19??, 1884-01-05

''De l believe IN phantom shipjp Y es,
do.n The old sailor was emphatic,
so the reporter merely said, 'Ah l''
"There amt as much Of that sort of
shipping aaoat 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 like to see going about"
"Did you ever see any ?"
eyes. Once, when 1 was second
mate of bark bound from this port
to Calcatta 1 saw a 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 ghastly appearance,
and our spars and sails as we looked
aloft seemed more like those of some
phantom vessel than things you could
take hold Of. There were no indica-
tions of a blow, and we were scudding
along withrom sky-sails and studding-
sails set. 1 had the second dog watch
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. i looked and there she was,
a ship with high bulwarks and tower
ing stern, of build like the pictured
ships in history books. Her sails we've
like clouds, her masts and spars like
streams of vapor. 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 phantom
craft and, sailing right against the
wind, she passed on and in three min
utes was lost to sight"
"What was it p''
"The Flying Dutchman,"
"What is the Palatine light ?"
"Welll l thought everybody knew
what that was. You see in early colo
nial 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 pillaged 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 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 burn
ing in three columns of flame. I have
seen it with these very eyes-hundreds
of others have seen it and explain it
as you will, 1t is an undoubted fact that
the strange unearthly lights burn
there"
"That is good" said the reporter
''give me another phantom ship"
"Well, in August, 1862, fishing
fleet from the Grand Banks was over
taken by storm and put into st.
Mary's Bay for shelter. As is frequent
ly the case in those latitudes the storm
was accompanied by thick fog and the
fleet of 100 boats was lost. Now when
there is similar storm there, the ves-
sells seeking shelter sail through the
midst of phantom fleet of those hun
dred fishing boats"
''Did you ever see themp"
''No, but know people who have"
"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 cen at anchor under the Palisa-
des 2"
"Can't say that have"
"Well, people have told me that have
seen it,"