Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1888-02-17
100 Doses one Dollar.
GHOSTS AT SEA.


IN the seventeenth century a ship
was about to sail from Salem, Mass,
for England, Her cargo was under
matches, her sails bent and her passen-
gers aboard, when two strangers came
to her and engaged passage. The
couple were q young man and woman
who, so tradition says were endowed
with wonderful beauty. Who they
We're or from whence they came none OF
the good folk of Salem knew. Long
be fore the ship sailed, she being de-
tanned by adverse winds, the mysterious
actions of the strange couple had
/ aroused the suspicious of the towns
people, and there were many who pro-
nOunced them witches, if, indeed, they
were not demOns-Gctual children OF
| Satan in heshy guise. Many even went
so far as to prOphesY disaster to the
vessel If they should sail IN her, and
/ approached the captain and urged him
| to decline to carry them to sea. The
| bluff seaman refused to listen, and, the
wind serving the vessel sailed upon
| Friday. She never reached her desti-
/ nation and was never spoken. 1t Is
/ told, however, that later IN the year
! incoming vessels, fisherman, and coast
/ wise traders reported sighting a craft
/ with luminous rigging and sails and
! shining hall and spars. She was sail
/ ing with all canvas against the wind,
| with a crew Of dead seamen standing in
/ the shrouds and leaning over the rail,
/ while upon the quarter deck stood q
| young and beautiful cOrple.
OLD whalemen as they sat spinning
I yarns about the stove at the ship chan
/ dler's tell OF meeting IN the Japan Sea
/ or Indian Ocean a small, lumpy ship,
| managed by a crew of gray beards-the
| sail tattered and patched, and the run
ming rigging spiced in a hundred
/ places. The hull was battered and
/ stained and the paint was worn com
/ pletly of the planking, and as she
/ rolled IN the sea-Way it was noticed
/ that her hull below the water-line was
] covered with q thick coating of barna-
/ cles- As the speaking vessel came
/ alongside this seaWOrn craft the crew,
| with implOring gestures, begged to be
| taken of, and stated that they were
/ young men when the vessel sailed; that
| they had found no whales, and that the
! master had sworn to cruise until filed.
/ As they told their strange story the
/ captain rushed from the cabin, and,
/ waving an iron hook that supplied the
/ place of his lost right hand, drove the
crew from the side, and shouting to the
man at the wheel, the mysterious
| whaler's course was changed, and as
she sailed away she seemed to vanish ID
a mist that suddenly surrounded her
/ The old whalers who listened to this
yarn would wag their heads sagely and
acquiesce in the deduction that such an
apparition could only bode Ill to those
who Witnessed it.
TIE fisherman Of Gaspe sometimes
see a ship sailing into the bay. She Is
! of strange antique build, with high
poop and fOrecastle and Is quantity
/ rugged alofL Her deck is covered with
/ troops, and from her ports and cabin
windows bright lights stream through
the darkness. At the heel of the bow
spirit stands an officer, with Eichly
laced coat and featheIed hat, who
points to shore as though showing the
place Of landing to a lady who is lean
ing on his arm. Suddenly a shrek OF
horror is heard, the lights disappear
and the vessel slowly sinks. This app
partition is said to be the specter Of the
flagship of q feet sent out by Queen
Anne that was lost with all on board
In 1852 the Dutch trading vessel
Palatine was wrecked on Block Island.
and the story is told that the wreckers
+. made short work of stripping her and
setting fire to the hull. As she drifted
blazing off the coast it is said that a
: human form was visible amid the
} flames, the form of a female passenger
on the wrecked craft, left to perish by
the wrechers. Since, and usually upon
the anniversary of the wreck, a phan.
] tom ship with blazing hull, charred
/ spars, and scOrched sails and rigging,
has been seen cruising of Block Island,
and has been regarded by cOasting
captains as a sure fOrerunner of bad
! weather and disaster.
THE legend Of the famous ocean
specter, the Flying Dutchman, has
formed the theme Of song and story
until its salient features are familiar tC
the 1andsman as the tale Of the COcE
lane ghost, yet few realize that Van
derdecken is still cruising, bringing
disaster to every craft he encounters
as he battles the storms of the South
Atlantic in futile attempts to double
! the Cape of Good Hope, as ne sWOre Il
do, in spite of God or Satan, if he sailed
till eternity. Nanderdecken's craft hal
been usually sighted to leeward, max
ing good weather under full sail agains
the force Of a gale that causes Other
vessels to run under bare poles.
CorroN MArHER tells how a new shiI
sailed from New Haven, 1647, and wal
never heard from In June of the sans
year, about an hour before sunset,
ship the very twin of the ship that hac
/ sailed in January was seen to SAL ~
the river against the wind and current
| As she drew nearer she grew indistinc
and slowly disappeared from view
This visitation was held TO be a Motif
cation of the loss Of the outgoing ship
I and it was commented upon in the
! DuIDiE