St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-01-10

- -
1 once had mate who
had seen a ghost in The mizzentop one
dark night. Another of the shippers
said that he had known captain who
had had steward who had once been
shipmate with spook.
Il can tell you a better story than
that" remarked a third shipmaster. Il
was once on haunted vessel myself.
This vessel was really haunted by
ghOst-I am telling you the truth. And
what is more, l was the ghost that
haunted the vessel.' This announce
ment gave rise to some expressions of
incredulity, which the captain who
claimed to be an eX-gh0St proceeded to
answer by spinning his yarn.
Il was a tough yOungSter about thirty
years ago." he continued, $50 tough that
my parents sent me to sea. l didn't
particularly fancy life on shipboard at
first, because they gave me lots OF work,
and because they didn't give me good
| good victualS. The bark had shipped
on went to Bordeaux. The third night
in that port | asked for permission to so
| ashore, but was told that would have
to remain on board. That made ME
| mad. l saw the captains small boat
alongside the gangway with the oars in
it. l crawled down into the boat. I'M
| fastened the painter, and showed off
EafrOm the bark. Then | rowed, as l
| thought, toward the shore, but it soon
came on to be thick. AS | couldn't see
nothing to do but sit quietly in the
boat and let her drift. And she
drifted all night. Soon after daylight
heard the SwaSh of vessel coming
| toward me. / jumped up and hailed
| her. She was small. outward-bound
bark, sailing slowly, with the wind on
! her beam. There were people on her
| deck, and just as they passed one of
| them hove me line, which l caught
| Ina minute l was OH board the vessel.
surrounded by several rough-looking
Spanish sailors, who examined HE from
| head to foot as il l were a curiosity.
While they were still watching me the
| captain came up, and. in broken Eng
/ fish. told me that his vessel had just
| left Bordeaux for .Buenos Ayres. He
| could not put back to land me, and 1t
would be unsafe for me to leave the
bark in the fog. He had spare berth
and | could work my passage, he said.
| He then ordered the little boat in which
had been found to be hauled on board.
II was placed in the mates watch.
| W.,
! who at once tOOk%a strong dislike to me.
| One morning / began to whistle while at
| my work. The mate heard me and gave
| me a sound thrashing. | took it from
| that that the mate was very Supersti-
| ti0us, like the majority of Spanish sail
| OrS then, and faneied that my whistling
| would bring the vessel ill-luck. After
that he always thrashed me on the
| slightest prOvOcation. We had unfaYer-
able winds and Gains nearly the whole
time. The mate and sailors all seemed
| to regard me as .s.,,;.
THE CAUSE OF THE 5UNFAvORABLE
| WINDS, :: a..
for often caught them looking at me
III a7distrustful way, as, if they thought
| l was Jonah.
= 1.-The food was very poor and there
was little of it. Il sleptiT. little room
| in the deck house, where some of the
stores were kept. There was small
trap-dOOr in the deck in this room. One
night when we had the first watch on
deck saw, as passed the galley door,
that there was something that looked
| like can of preserved meat on shelf
inside the door. l watched my chance
and seized the can and took it to my
bunk, where L hid it. At midnight,
when turned in, found that the can
| contained picked. Holsters. / eat the
| whole contents of the can, and then slid
out on deck and threw the can over
board. / slept heavily after turning in,
and later on had an uneasy feeling, as
if my stomach wasn't working rightly.
1t seemed to me as if | were climbing up
and down preeipices and CROPPING along
narrow lodges, and now and then crawl
ing along in dark. caves. Suddenly the
scene seemed to change. [ thought my
self in a small boat alone Oh the ocean.
"A vessel came rapidly in sight and hur-
] ried past me. Help! helpr / cried,
don't leave me to periShr Then [
heard anFanswering cry in Spanish. l
replied with another cry for help. Then
| >awoke and found myself in the laza-
retto of the bark, with my head stick
ing. out of small portfolio. In my
opened the trap door in the deck. gone
down into the hold, climbed aft along
the cargo, entered the lazaretto through
! asmall trap door, opened the port and
stuck my head out into the open air and
yelled for help. 1t took me moment
or SO to realize this. then heard cries
| on deck, and i concluded that had
really yelled out and that the people OH
| deck thought that the yells came from
some one whO2had fallen overheard or
| from some shipWrecked person in a boat
| or clinging to raft.
81 shuddered when / thought of the
| thrashipg that l was sure to receive
from the mate if he discovered that
had been responsible for the alarm.
closed the port and started to retrace
my steps. had got through the trap
door of the laZaretto when | stumbled
and fell over basket. AS l did so /
heard the clinking of bottles. l tore
| open the basket and found that it was
filled with bottles of wine. | broke off
the neck of one of the bottles, which |
proceeded to empty. / felt very COM
Portable after it, and / lay down upon
some mating which had been placed
over a portion of, the cargo. l began to
feel drOwsy and the next thing remem-
Der was waking up. / must have been
asleep for number of hours. 1t oc-
CURED to me that had already been
missed, and that the crew probably
thought that had fallen overheard, and
had mistaken my nightmare yells for
| drowning cries.
81 knew that, when / appeared OH
deck there would be trouble, so took
another bottle of wine TO brace up with.
While l was drinking this it struck me
that it would be. a good idea for me to
see ii there were not some eatableS at
hand. L found near me number of
hams, several cases of fine biscuit, some
boxes of rasins and a quantity of fancy
groceries packed in light boxes and easy
| to -traf of I a lon fau, oacoc Of