Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1893-08-04
THE PHANTOM SHIP.

i s& " @ THE PHANTOM SHIP. !
On the Hudson river there is a legend
Of a spectral boat, manned by Ra1nhout
Van Dam, who, after drinking till mid
night one Saturday, swore that he would
row home although it took him month
of Sundays. He never reached home, but
he is heard at night desperately plying his
oars, which he is condemned to use till the
day of Judgment.
The mate of a New Bedford whaler, a
man of great intelligence, still tells and
firmly believes this grewsome story:
1--WE were off the mouth Of the Amazon,
with two whales we had killed alongside.
had the midwatch, dead calm prevailing,
when large. square rugged ship came ca
reening out of the misty darkness with a
bone in her teeth. She came swiftly, and
stood by the after companionway incapable
of motion, There was something about the
ship that struck me with horror She
passed close to our quarter, with the forms
of the crew plainly revealed, and the figure
of the captain, an elderly man, scanning us
closely through his night glass. Suddenly
she rounded to, shortened sail and disap-
peared. The man at the wheel had seen it
all and was nearly dead with terror.
I'm the next watch both whales by some
means broke adrift and were lost. We
stood up the coast, for the whales had sud-
denly left US, and had got nicely to work
with 40 barrel fellow when one of the
watch, at II o'clock at night, reported a
big ship close abeam of US. As before it
was dead calm, and the same scene was
enacted in presence of the entire crew, cap
tain included. The crew were panic strick-
en-, but the cry Of '''There she blows" the
next morning served to rally the mems
spirits, and boat was lowered. Well, that
whale stove the boat and killed two men.
That night the ghostly visitor appeared
again. Whales followed with sunrise. Two
boats pulled in pursuit, the captain lead
ing. They made fast and were run off and
have never been heard of since. It was my
job to bring the old hooker home, but had
the specter appeared again there would
have been none left to tell the tale"
In 1859 a distressing tragedy occurred just
off Block island, Rhode Island. The Dutch
vessel Polatine was wrecked. Wreckers
| made short work of her, terminating their
labors by setting fire to the splintered and
strained hull. As she drifted seward with
| the ebb tide the form Of female was seen
amid the flames, left there to perish by the
| wreckers. So much is painful truth. But
| seriousness that many mariners have since
seen the Polatine, with battered hull and
blazing spars, and on her deck the wrath OF
that foully murdered woman wringing hel
hands and calling vainly for help. Down
to 1860 another mysterious vessel was often
seen off Sandy Hook. She made signals Of
distress and for pilot, but no boat could
ever reach her, so many old seamen testify
But tbs straugest story is that of thu
wreck which drifted On the coast of Kerry
and was found to be laden with gold anG
silver, the richest silks and oriental laces
wealth beyond the most gorgeous dreams
of the Kerry coasters But when they
crowded aboard, in dead calm, shdder
storm arose and swept the wreck to sea, ani
every wrecker- was drowned. The sam,
wreck appeared at other places on the Irisl
coast, causing a like calamity, and it i
firmly believed to this day that the shil
was not Of earth, but phantom Of Tim.
Noog. the land Of youth and eternal happi
| ness. e. ts-
That Friday is an unlucky day is a su
perstition by no means confined to the sea
but seamen take it in a worse form thai
landsmen, as they do all superstitions
The noted attempt once made to destro.
this superstition only strengthened it AM
is we'll remembered by sailors. To demon