Milford chronicle., 1885-06-05

H-HtN~
fallen overheard, and this seems to have
been believed. Wheth or the crew
meant TO starve him or not is not certain;
but after he had been in the forepeak
three Or four days, fellow going be-
hind the galley out of the way of the
wind to light his pipe-it being then
four bells in the first watch-came rum
ming into the forecastle; with his hair on
end, and the sweat pouring off his face,
swearing he had seen the Italians
ghost. This frightened the men prettily
some Of them went down into the fore
peak and found the italian lying there
dead with a score of rats upon him,
which scampered off when the men
dropped below. During all the rest Of
the voyage his ghost was constantly
seen, sometimes at the lee wheel, some
times astride of the g-iibboom.
What was the end of i'll mean, whether
the men confessed the murder, and, If
so, what became of them-the dock
master said he didn't know. But, be
this as It may, I discovered shortly after
we had begun our voyage that the crew
had got to hear of this story, and the
chief mate said it had been brought
aboard by the carpenter, who had
picked it up from some of the dockyard
laborers.
81 well recollect two uncomfortable
circumstances we sailed on a Friday,
and the able and ordinary seamen were
thirteen in number, the idlers and our
selves aft bringing up the ships company
to nineteen souls when, L suppose, in
-. ...s,,,o ELo Ooaoy, Kino r,auar lafk
port short of seventy or eighty seamen,
not TO mention stewards, cooks, cooks
mate, butcher. butchers mate, baker,
and the rest of them. But double top
sail-yards were now in; besides, under
stood that the vessels masts had been
reduced and her yards shortened, and
we carried stump fore and mizzen top
gallantmasts
can being ready, a tug got hold of
our towrope, and away we went down
the river and out to sea.
81 don't believe myself that any
stories which had been told the
men about the ship impressed them
much. Sailors are very supersti-
tious, but they are not to be
scared till something has happened to
brighten them. Your merely telling
them that there's a ghost aboard the
ship they're in won't alarm them till
they've caught sight of the ghost. Bu'
once let man say to the others, There's
a bloomin' sperrit in this ship. Lay
your head agin the forehatch, and you'll
hear him gnashing his teeth and rattlin'
his chains, and then let another man
go and listen, and swear, and perhaps
very honestly, that he 'heerd the noises
plain, and you'll have all hands in a
funk, talking in whispers, and going
aloft in the dark nervously.
Gin our ship nothing happened fol
some days. We were deep and slow,
and rolled along solemnly, the sea fall
ing away from the vessels powerful
round bows as from a rock. Pile what
we could upon her, with tacks aboard,
staysails drawing, and the wind hitting
her best sailing point, we could seldom
manage to get more than seven knots
out of her. One night I had the first
watch. 1t was about two bells.
There was n nice wind, sea
smooth, and a red moon crawling up
over our starboard beam. We were
the wind a trihe, aVd the water washed
along under the bends in lines through
which the starlight ran glimmering. 1
was thinking over the five or six
months voyages which old wagons after
the pattern of this ship took in getting
to India, when, seeing a squat coming
along, sung out for hands to stand by
the main-royal and mizzentopgallant
halIiards. It drove down dark, and not
knowing what was behind ordered the
mainrOyal to be clewed up and furled.
Two youngsters went aloft. By the
time they were on the yard the squall
thinned, but fancied there was another
| bearing down, and thought it best to
let the ordinary seamen roll the sail up.
On a sudden down they both trotted
hand over hand, leaving the sail flap
ping in the clutch Of the clew-lines.
81 rOared out What dye mean
by coming down before you've furled
that sail p
''They stood together in the main rig
cling, and one of them answered :
please, sir, there's a ghost somewhere
up aloft on the foretopsoil yard.
asa ghost, you fool T I cried.
" eyes, sir, he answered. He says,
"Jim, your mother wants yer. says
"WhatP". and he says, "Your mother
wants YER" in the hollowest o. voices.
Dick heard it. There's no one aloft for
rards, sir
81 sung out to them to jump aloft
again, ana nndlng Tney didn't move !
made a spring, on which they dropped
like lightning on deck, and began to beg
and pray of me in the eagerest manner
not to send them aloft, as they were too
frightened to hold on. Indeed, the fell
low named Jim actually began to shivel
and cry when threatened him; so as
the royal had to be furled I sent an able
seaman aloft, who, after rolling up the
sail, came down and said that no voice
had called to him, and that he rather
reckoned it was bit of skylarking on
the part of the boys to get out OF stow.
ing the sail. However, / noticed that
the man was wonderfully quick over the
Job, and that afterward the watch on
deck stood talking in low voices in the
waist.
''Jim was fool of a youth, but Dick
was a smart lad, aged about nineteen,
! ana gOOu-lOOkluB, VIII livery tOuBuei
and I heard afterward that he could
spin yarn to perfection all out of his
imagination. 1 called him to me, and
asked him if he had really heard a voice
and he swore he had.
"'Did it say, said I, '"Jim, your
mother wants you p
"'Ay, sir, he answered, with bit Of
a shudder, 'as plain as you yourself say
it. It seemed to come off the foretop
gallant yard, where I fancied I see
something dark a-moving; but I wa
too frightened to take particular notice.
"Wen, it was not long after this
about eleven o'clock in the morning
that, the captain being on deck, thu
cook steps out of the galley, comes
walking along the poop, and going NJ
to the skipper touches his cap, anC
stands looking at him.
"'What dye want p said the cap
tain, eying him as though he took hin
to be mad.
Didn't Won call. sir saws thu