Los Angeles herald., 1892-12-09


ening than that of Captain Hawke and
his slaveship the Martha Kane, and the
phantom jolly boat which the sailors still
see occasionally in the West InGies would
| in fact be but a proper punishment fol
| him.
Early in this century, just before the
slave trade was abolished, he was known
and noted about San Juan and in Porto
Rico waters generally. His men and offi-
GERS were picked men-pickcd for their
cruelty and cold blooded ferocity. On his
| last voyage he he'd cargo composed o{
| negroes q 0ns Of the superior tribss, and
| ameng them . prince Of unusual talsnS
and daring, who devised . plan for their
dsliverancs The plot WAS that when the
hold was opened to let down food to them
certain of them were to lend their backs to
others to leap to the deck, where rush
was to be made upon the crew and officers,
| whe were to be knocked down and secured.
| The first part Of this plan worked very
well. The captives leaped to the deck and
sprang toward their tormentors, but the
latter being armed, and the miserable
slaves being weakened by privation and
the want of air, they were knocked down
and killed with cuts Of the cutlasses and
the officers pistols until ths blood flowed
off the deck in rivulets, when the bodies
were thrown to the sharks that hung
about the vessel as if in anticipation Of the
feast hat was furnished them. Some of
the slaves were not yet dead when they
were cast overheard, there to find a speedy
ending in the jaws of these horrid sea
wolves.
For a few days that ship was veritable
hell on earth. The most horrible punish
I t.1
unhappy prince was lowered till his legs
just dipped into the sea, and hung there
till the sharks literally devoured him by
fragments. With dying breath he pro-
nounced dreadful curse on Captain
Hawke and crew. That night the light
ming fell upon the ship and literally licked
the men from the deck. The captain and
few others escaped from the wreck in the
jolly boat and the negroes swarmed upon
the deck. The rain and spray extinguished
the fire, and the crew tried to regain the
vessel but were beaten off
Since that day Captain Hawke and his
men have been seen, the sailors say, in
many storm or just before it, but when
overtaken they are seen to be only naked
skeletons looking back over their shoul-
ders with hideous grins and their eyes
ablaZe with horrid fire not on earth
This boat invariably runs before the fear
ful gales that are experienced on this coast,
and every captain who sees this spectral
craft dancing before him keeps his weather
eye open.
An old sailor, one of the two who alone
escaped from the Peter Ludling when she
went down in a hurricane, says that on
the afternoon preceding the catastrophe
the lookout called attention to q boat and
said: 81 see y little boat bobbiu up and
down in the water with six or seven per-
Rods in her. They looked like they was
pullin tow'dg us, aud the captain give
orders for US to lay to, but them felluS
didn't seem to mex no progress, an last at
1t struck me what she was; so tells the
mate, but he Jest larfed an said, Don't be
a fool, Bill, SO up shet. But by and By
we bore down on her, and we see thar was
only dead men in her, with rotten oars still
gripped in their bony hands"
This sailor saw them once more, but took
warning and escaped. A prominent citi-
zen of San Juan. Porto Rico. is the last to
testify, and he saw the phantoms in 1880.
He was out with party when a sudden
squall struck the boat, upsetting her and
drowning four Of the party. The rest citing
to the boat till help reached them, but
while they were awaiting rescue a small
boat passed a short distance from them
surrounded by an extraordinary red glow
that revealed the glaring, set faces OF the
rowers, who paid not the slightest atten-
ton to their cries for succor, but presently
seemed to go down while in plain view Of
them.