The Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Or.) 1862-1899, 1885-09-11
Phantom Ships.

7cIeuI mdTlnerS peOpleQ the sea, III tuoiI
quaint mythology, with imaginary
creatures, or invested the most COM
mon things and occurrences with prog
nostic influences. Following them
with their sea-faring delusions, came
tending to chronicle, with scrupulous
accuracy, sanity interpretations at sea,
etc., etc. The sailors were excusable,
on account of their ignorance and
credulity, but the same apology can
not be offered in behalf of the monks.
It is not our purpose, in this article, to
enumerate the superstitions, and still
less to speak of the curious legends,
only in so far as they may be directly
connected with the title of our article
In very rare book entitled Gotta
Imperialia,'' written by Gervase of
Tilbury, in 1911, is very odd story,
related with all the soberness of fact.
In substance it is as follows:
AS the people were coming out of a
church in England, on a dark, cloudy
day, they saw cable dangling from
the clouds, and, upon examination,
found attached to it ships anchor
which had caught in heap of stones.
Suddenly the cable became taut, as if
an unseen crew were trying to haul it
up, while clamorous orders issued
from the clouds overhead. TO their
surprise sailor came sliding down
the cable, and was suffocated by the
thick atmosphere in the presence of
the gaping crowd. His shipmates cut
the cable and sailed away. The anchor
which they left behind them was made
into fastenines and ornaments for the
1nnJ. of thn f.hI1rah Nhnthar
they still exist, in commemoration of
the wonderful event, we are not pre-
pared to say.
The phantom ship was an object of
firm belief to the Norman fishermen,
and would be driven into port when
ever the prayers for the souls of their
lest kinsmen had failed to be effica-
c1ous. In '.Credulities Past and Pres
ent," is an account of what would fol-
low such mysterious visitation. The
widows and children and friends of
the seamen who were supposed to
have been drowned, would rush to the
quay. Cries of recognition would
arise, but no returning cry from the
crew. The bells would sound the hour
of midnight, and the fog would steal
over the sea, amid which the vessel
would disappear. Amidst the sobs
and cries of the spectators of the
phantom ship the warning voice of the
priest would be heard: ''Pay your
debts! Pray for the lost souls in
Purgatoryn'
There is legend of Herr Won
Falkenbeg who was condemned to beat
about the ocean until the Day of Judg-
ment, on board ship without a helm
or steersmau, playing at dice for his
soul with the devil. 1t was common
for seamen who traversed the German
Ocean to declare that they had met
the phantom ship. Some legend of
the kind suggested to Coleridge his
Crime of the Ancient Mariner"
There is a spectre ship in it, and
dice are thrown for the souls of the
crew.
Her lips were red, her looks were free,
Her locks were We low as gold;
Her skin was white as leprosy,
The nightmare l. fe-in-death was she,
Who tn cks mans blood with cold
The Flying Dutchman was name :.
given to one of these phantom ships.
It scudded before the wind under a
heavy press of sail, when other ships
She was generally declared to have
Good Hope, and was always regarded
as the worst of all possible omens.
Her crew committed some atrocious
crime; the plague broke out among
them; no harbor would consent to
shelter them; the apparition of the
ship still haunts the seas in which the
crimes were perpetrated, etc. The
originated with the Dutch,
though the English sailors put the
most faith in the legend. Sir Walter
Scott alluded to the ship as harbinger
of wo:
Or, of that phantom ship whose form
Shoots like meteor through the storm.
Full spread and crowded every sail
The demon-frigate braves the gale,
And well the doomed spectators know
The harbinger of wreck and VIC!
1t was probably no uncommon oc-
currence in early times for seafarers
to fall in with ships abandoned to the
winds and waves, with corpses on
board. Such instances may have sug-
gested the legends. On the other hand
they may have had their origin in the
looming up, or apparent suspension in
the air, of some ship out of sight-a
sometimes Witnessed at
Scet, tiliSt S1dSCu ~ ohCdudA ACiA'S.hoh
in the lower strata of the atmosphere.
We close our article with Cornish
tradition of a phantom ship as related
by Mr.. Hunt:
One night a gigs crew was called to
go to the westward of st. Ives Head.
No sooner was one boat launched,
than several others put off from the
shore, and stiff chase was maintained,
each one being eager to get to the
ship, and she had the appearance of
foreign trader. The hull was clearly
visible; she was schooner rugged
vessel with light over her bows.
Away they pulled, and the boat which
had been first launched still kept ahead
by dint of mechanical power and skill.
All the men had thrown off their jack
cts to row with more freedom. All
length the helmsman cried out, .'Stand
ready to board her!' The sailor row.
ing the bow-oar, slipped it out of the
row-lock and stood on the forethwart,
taking his jacket on his arm, ready to