The Daily times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1886-1889, 1888-02-23
ON A SAILING SHIP.
PICTURESQUE EFFECTS OF NOON
LIGHT ON THE WAVES.
A Magnificent Scene In tho Orsent-Cou-
iict Of Moonlight and Lightning-A
Water.-The Phantom Ship.


A sailing ship moving quietly onward.
| or living restfully in the heart Of calm,
offers a surface upon which the magic
brushes Of the moon will paint n hundred
lovely things The clear, sharp shadows
resemble Jet inlaid upon the ivory Of the
planks. The spaces Of spiendor upon the
yards between the black dyes, wrought
by the interception OF the reflection of the
end of boom or the clew Of sail, are
! like bands of shining silver. There is
nothing fairer than the spectacle OF q
sleeping ship with her canvas hanging 81
lent from the yards, stealing out to the
! hight Of the moon that scars sparkling as
| ii wet from the sea.
A fine effect is often produced by con-
fiict OF moonlight and lightning. l wit
messed a magnificent scene of this Kind III
the Indian ocean, the Island Of Amster-
| dam in sight on the starboard quarter
| There was full moon in the north, and
| ia the south hung vast bank of clouds
charged with fire and thunder. The early
| gust, of this electric storm broke away
great wings Of vapor from the shoulder OF
| tie main body, and sent them speeding
aihwart the moon. The shining OF the
| luminary was CHASTITY, rendered so by the
| alterations of her own light, darting
wildly over the edge of the driven clouds,
with the quick dazzle of the southern
| fllshes Her beams seemed to be colored
| b. the electric leapngs. 1t was the eye,
ot course, that carried the reflection or
the blue and sun bright darts to the
northern illumination; but the effect was
~ though the lightning struck its own
! hclHsh quality into the fabric OF the silver
| beams as they fell from the rims of the
living clouds The combined illumiha-
ton put n new and monstrous face upon
the ocean Ii made you think OF dead
sea complexioned to very mockery OF
vitality By the light of such flames as
those from which Millions Fiend rose to
steer his Eight to dry land.
PHosPHoREsCENT WATERS.
! was once becalmed in highly phos-
| nhOrescent waters, but the surface was so
| ill that the few CLEANS visible in the
dark profound were faint as the reflection
of star riding upon the heaye OF the hid
den swell A cloud gathered overhead
and its sooty belly seemed to lean for sup
p0rt upon our scarcely swaying trucks.
suddenly it rained One should spend
some months in Jamaica 10 understand
the meaning of such shower" as this
| In few moments our decks were half
full Of water, the scuppers sobbing madly;
the roaring of the rain and hail shifting
the ocean drowned all other sounds. The
sea was SO phOsphorescent that piece OF
wood, dropped overheard Clipped out fire
as though il had burst into flames. Judge
then OF the effect of that Niagara fall of
rain and hall The ocean was flashed up
/ into a plain of fire 1t swept sparkling IN
one vast incandescent sheet to its limits,
dimming into sickly sulphur as 1t ap-
preached the horizon.
You might suppose that such an illu-
mination as this would have revealed any
thing afloat upon it, but, though took n
! long look round, being deeply impressed
/ by this sudden, wonderful burning OF the
ocean, | saw nothing, ill all at once the
darkness was split by a Hash OF lightning
/ that leaped from the clouds away over our
! loreyard arm and shot into the water, as
il seemed TO me, a league distant and on
our siarboard quarter, and then to this
| mighty flare there sprang out upon the
| view large ship well within a mile OF
as. snugged down TO her topsails. The
sight made me catch my breath for an in
stant. for the wonder al it lay in her
having been invisible until the lightning
threw her up, 50 bright was the water
with the lashing 0f the rain. One waited
for second fash 10 make sure; and
dare say. had she fOundered before 1t
came. there would not have been wanting
people among US 10 swear that they had
seen the Phantom Ship.
ORIGIN OF THE LEGEND.
Indeed it is quite possible that this
Grand old legend had its origin IN some
| atmospheric effect due 10 lightning, moon
shine or iOg. ! have sometimes at sea,
but mere often in our narrow waters,
watched a ship for a few moments, re-
moved my gaze. and, thinking OF her
presently, looked for her again and found
ner gone. This is one Of those mysterious
disappearance with which all seamen are
acquainted The eyanishment, however,
grows more perpleXing when, after search
Ing for the vessel and believing her 70 be
gone for good, you look for her again later
On and lind her almost in the same place.
| \ thing Of this kind would have been ac-
cepted by the early mariner as a miracle.
He would have come home with yarn
about it as long as his arm, and so have
fred the first POLITICALLY minded guest he
could constrain with his eye with visions
and fances of spectral ship.
BE this rs it Will, disappearance aud
Temperatures Of this kind can be due to
nothing but the subtle and imperceptible
gathering Of haze about the object. Mist
will often take its complexion from the
atmosphere. | have seen bank of haze
If so skylike an azure that but for the
curvature OF the sea line under it caused
by the defective sweep OF its base ! should
have accepted it as pure blue air. White
msts also, Of q slightly opaline tinctTe
corresponding to perfection with the hue
If the heavens beyond, | have detected
only by the apparent depression of the
horizon under them. \ ship may be in
the act Of piercing one Of these elusive
wells with her flying jbboom when you
first catch sight of her. She is rs plain
in your sight us your own vessel yet when
Won seek her minute after She has van
ished and there Is nothing In the somber
or sunny texture Of the stuff she has en-
tered 10 persuade you that what you are
viewing Is not the same brown or eeru-
lean sky that stands over AMI on either