The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1888-06-06
ON A SAILING SHIP.
PICTURESQUE EFFECTS or NOON
LIGHT ON THE WAVES.

a Msgninosnt Scene In the Orieut-C0u-
aiet OF Moonlight and Lishtning-A
Jamaica shower ON Phosphorescent
watsrs-Ths Phantom ship.
A sailing ship moving quietly onward,
or lying restfully In the heart of calm,
offers a surface upon which the magic
brushes of the moon will paint hundred
lovely things. The clear, sharp shadows
resemble jet inlaid upon the ivory of the
planks. The spaces of splendor upon the
yards between the black dyes, wrought
by the interrogation of the reflection of the
end of a boom or the clew of a sail, are
like bands of shining silver. There Is
nothing fairer than the spectacle Of q
sleeping ship with her canvas hanging ST
lent from the yards, stealing out To the
light of the moon that scars sparkling as
II wet from the sea.
A fine effect is often produced by a con-
hict of moonlight and lightning. / wit
messed magnificent scene of this kind in
the Indian ocean, the Island of Amster-
dam in sight on the starboard quarter.
There was full moon in the north, and
in the south hung a vast bank of clouds
charged with fire and thunder. The early
gusts of this electric storm broke away
great wings of vapor from the shoulder of
the main body, and sent them speeding
athwart 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
flashes. Her beams seemed to be colored
by the electric leapings. 1t was the eye,
Of course, that carried the reflection of
the blue and sun bright darts to the
northern illumination; but the effect was
as though the lightning struck its own
helksh quality into the fabric of the silver
beams as they fell from the rims of the
flying clouds. The combined illumina-
ton put a new and monstrous face upon
the ocean. 1t made you think Of q dead
sea complexioned to very mockery of
vitality by the light of such flames as
those from which Millions Fiend rose to
steer his fight to dry land.
PHosPHoREsCENT WATERS.
was once becalmed in highly phos-
phorescent waters, but the surface was 80
still that the few CLEANS visible in the
dark profound were faint as the reflection
Of q star riding upon the heave Of the hid
den swell. A cloud gathered overhead
and its sooty belly seemed to lean for sup
port upon our scarcely swaying trucks.
Suddenly IL rained. One should spend
some months In Jamaica to understand
the meaning of such Shower" as this.
In a 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 hail! The ocean was flashed up
into plain of fire. 1t swept sparkling In
one vast incandescent sheet to its limits,
dimming into sickly sulphur as it APP
preached the horizon.
You might suppose that such an illu-
minatiou as this would have revealed any
thing afioat upon it, but, though took a
long look round, being deeply impressed
by this sudden, wonderful burning Of the
ocean, saw nothing, till all at once the
darkness was split by flash Of lightning
that leaped from the clouds away over our
foreyard arm and shot into the water, as
1t seemed to me, league distant and on
our starboard quarter, and then to this
mighty flare there sprang out upon the
view large ship, well within mile of
us, snugged down to her topsails. The
sight made me catch my breath for an in
slant, for the wonder Of 1t lay in her
having been invisible until the lightning
threw her mp, so bright was the water
with the lashing OF the rain. One waited
for a second flash to make sure; and
dare say, had she foundered before 1t
came, there would not have been wanting
people among US to 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 to lightning, moon
shine or fog. I have sometimes ut sea,
but more often in our narrow waters,
watched a ship for few moments, re-
moved my gaze. and, thinking of her
presently, looked for her again and found
her gone. This Is one of those mysterious
disappearances with which all seamen are
acquainted The evanishment, however,
grows more perplexng when, after search
ing for the vessel and believing her to be
gone for good, you look for her again later
on and find her almost in the same place.
A thing of this kind would have been ac-
copied by the early mariner as a miracle.
He would have come home with yarn
about it as long rs his arm, and so have
fired the first POLITICALLY minded guest he
could constrain with his eye with visions
and fancies of q spectral ship.
BE this as 1t will, disappearance and
temperatures of this kind can be due to
nothing but the subtle and imperceptible
gathering of haze about the object. Mist
viii often take its complexion from the
atmosphere. have seen q bank Of haze
of 30 skylike an azure that but for the
curvature of the sea line under 1t caused
by the defective sweep of its base should
have accepted 1t as pure blue air. White
mists also, of slightly opaline tincture
corresponding to perfection with the hue
of the heavens beyond, I have detected
only by the apparent depression Of the
horizon under them. A ship may be in
the act Of piercing one of these elusive
wells with her flying jibboom when you
first catch sight of her. She is as plain
In your sight as your own vessel; yet when
you seek her q minute after she has van
ished, and there Is nothing in the somber
or sunny texture of the stun she has en-
tered to persuade you that what you are
viewing Is not the same brown or ceru-
lean sky that stands over and on either
a.