Telegram-herald., 1890-02-01
A SPECTER OF THE SEA
THE sAFx T-sT ski-s 81 T-E
s-0sEs or T1E UNs-APEN LAN0

c.zs-- SET eas - oas - eAs Hslza-
sktssiug rhs Craskiuz pa I'D Dedz-
tax ths Cr.asiin< Berry as~ Jshs
Banssa " - Stocked
Sxoat Jobn Hansen, wrapped al ia
flrs. stood 90 rhz y beeI 20 tie bsrk Raiu-
4esr. a whalsr u sas 8 rctlc se4s. IL AS
night. and tas vessel was working along
shs lee pack with Cape Smythe just
booming ID tbs distance Tire biting
Eind tsir.ed sbour Hznsen's fset. catch
ing up the hght snow and seuilng i
s3.rling across the darkt1g water
There 0as a brisk breeze a1d the night
Was TOO cold for comfort oy reason II
the proximity Il the toe. but Hansen
cared iirrle ana chserily whislled the
sune q a folk lore song he learned While
= child sporting on Jhe shore q a Nor
~egian ford. He seemed as strong and
fearless as one II his Viking ancestors
when they faced the unknown Atlantic
untu 'csoudlE- they saw the American
shore stretching 70 leeward
THE PHANTOM or THg sIGHT.
Suddenly. right out of TIE pack came
another bark. low on. Her mizken was
gone aut she Feered ana waved strangely.
but her sails were SIT and she yss making
fair headway. Hansen could hear the
swish of the wind m her shrouds and the
swash as she munched the bone in her
mOuth Ia an instant she tacked and bore
away. Then. before going 100 yards, she
came about and made straight for the
Reindeer again.
Hansen hailed her. There was no an
swering hail His voice rang hollow and
strange as the wind took it up and seemed
- make Of II a mocking echo. Then he
hailed again. No return.
Hansen's lips grew white. His knees
shook. He'put his helm hard over and
made for the open sea. Then he muttered
prayer which had not come 10 him since
ship burned under his feet ia the South
ern ocean way back in the COS.
He had seen the spectral snip, the Fly
ing Dutchman Of the frozen ocean. The
phantom came so near that he could see
the clisten Of the salt spume frozen on
her rigging and the icicles which hung
from her sPars. There was ice upon her
deck, and upon her wheel, and upon her
battened hatches-ice, and nothing more
Tier decks gave back no echo OF foot
steps Her sailing lights were out She
was SO low in the water that she seemed
almost awash--but she kept on into the
darkness, reeiing, staggering, unsteady,
bu, on and on and out OF sight.
John Hansen came into port Death
sat watching by his bedside He chat
tered and glibbered, and stared with
5training eyeballs. For no man may look
upon the phantom ship and live.
THE WRATH OF TIE YOUNG PHFNIx.
But what John Hansen saw in the
depths of that July night was not a spec
ter of the seas; nor was it the grim vision
OF 4 fever stricken brain. 1t was some
thing far more dangerous than an airy
phantom-a derelict of the deep. It was
the wreck Of the Young Phoenix, which,
since the 5th Of Aug, 1888, has been sail
ing through ice and gale, breasting the
crushing pack, dodging the topping
bcrgs, guided by an unseen hand, and
sailing for no known port. No one may
say she has not touched the northern
pole. No man may tell where she viii
be seen again.
On Aug. 3 Of that year the whaling
fleet was riding between Point Barrow
and Cape Smythe, waiting for the ice
pack TO clear, when down came the south
west gale, beating the sea into ridges
and tossing the stout ships ike the paper
argosies Of children. Down went tho
bark Fleetwing that had outlived many
an arctic storm. The Mary and Susan
strained, plunged and foundered. The
seas great maw took in the schoOners
Ino and Jane GRAY.
LEFT TO THEIR FATE.
Things were lively on the Youhg Phoa-
nix thon Both anchors We're let 10 and
the men were ordered to the pumps. She
was leaking lady and the heavy seas
swept clear over her. With the night
the wind shifted TO the west and came
in stronger gusts. One after tho other
the cables parted and the bark driftsd
Then an effort was made 70 get to sea,
but the vessel fouled the Triton when
trying 70 get over the bar. Her rudder,
stern post ard jibboom carried away and
tie leaks were started freer
The crew OF thirty ssven mon stuck by
the bark until AuE 6. BY that time tho
water was at her lower deck. Her miz-
zenmast hod been cut away. TWAS not
thought that she could fo7t more than
an hour or two longer. The sails on tho
fore and main mastS were set or partially
furled when Capt. Nillard ordered tho
men tothe boats, and the Young Phoenix
sailed away. rudderless and undirected,
70 meet whatever fate might come.
she was not seen again that year, and
Il was supposed she had fouudered or
been squeezed between the foes But
she kept on her crratic course, bufeted
hy the winds. caught By the currents,
lonely ard forlorn.
on May 5. 1880. she was seen and
boarded hv Nr. Lea7itt. manager Of a
whaling station on Cape Smythe. She
was then close in shore, some sixty miles
from where she had been abandoned. A
few relics were taken from her. and the
rext morning she was gone again. She
was ii-s,e changed and though water
lo0Eed made good hea3wsv.
This abandoned craft is probably tbo
phantom whose ice-sheathed shrouds
AMI silent decks loomed uron the start
Ted vision of big John Hansen that chilly
night in July, and gave him thar shock
from which be may never recover. For
nearly a vear she Rad rn<.~7oI ths chart