Idaho semi-weekly world., 1893-11-28

va tno hudson river there Is legend
OF aspectral bout, manned by Ramhou,
van Dam, who. after drinking till mid
night one Saturday, sworc that he would
row homo although it took him a month
OF Sundaya He never reached home, but
ne Is heard Mt night desperately plying hi.
oars, which he Is condemned to use TIL the
day Of judgment.
! The matc OF New Bedford whaler. y
man OF great intelligence, still tells and
hrmly believes this grewsomc story:
we were of the mouth Of the Amazon.
with two whales we had killed alongside
had the midwntch, dead calm prevailing.
when large. square rugged ship camc ca.
reening out OF the misty darkness with n
bone In her teeth. She came swiftly. and I
stood by the after companionway incapable
OF motion. There was something about the
snip 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 disnn-
peared- The man at the Wheel had seen il
aii and was nearly dead with terror.
In the next watch both whales by Some
means broke adrift and were lost. We
STOOL up the coast. for the whales had sud
denly left us. and had got nicely to work
with ~ barrel fellow when one of tho
WATCH Mt II O'Clock at night, reported q
oig snip close abeam Of u.s. 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 strict.
en-, ou1 the cry OF There she blows' the
next morning served to rally the mems
SDlrltQ md N lpnt l., nv
whale stove the boat and killed two men
That night the ghostly visitor appeareJ
again. Whales followed with sunrise Two
boats pulled in pursuit, the captain Load.
Ing. They made fast and were run off nnd
have never been heard of since. 1t was NV
Job to bring the old hooker home. but baI
the specter appeared again there wopIJ
have been none left to tell the tale.n
In l552 distressing tragedy occurred inc,
OIL Block island, Rhode Island. The Dntch
vessel Polatine was wrecked. Wreckers
made short work OF her, terminating their
Inhors by setting fire to the splintered and
strained hull. As she drifted seaward with
he cbb tide the form of female was seen
amid the flames, left there to perish by tho
"reckers SO much Is painful truth Rut
h'a'iy I'M odd salt" will tell you with all !
'efio'isness that many mariners have since
cen thc Polatine, with battered hull and
p'azinG spars, and on her deck the wrath Of
'hnt foully murdered woman wringinu her
iaIus and calling vainly for help. Down /
20 isCo another mysterious vessel was often
.ecn OIL Sandy Hook. She made signals of
distress and for pilot, but no boa. could
'vcr reach her, so many old seamen testify
but the strangest story Is that of the
wreck which drifted on the coast of Kerry
md was found to be laden with gold and
aver tho richest silks and oriental laces.
wealth beyond the most gorgeous dreams
u the Kerry coasters. But when they
rowded aboard, in n dead calm, a sudden
torn arose and swept the wreck to sea. and
very wrecser was drowned The same
'reek appeared at other places on the Irish
oast' causing like calamity, and it Ia
Irmiy believed to this day that the shin
sas not Of earth, but phantom of Trina
'oog. the land Of youth and eternal Lapni-
css.
That Friday is IN unlucky day is A Sill
cfst'tion by no means confined to the sen
tt strmen take 1t In worse form than
andsmen, ms they do ull superstitions
nc noted attempt once made to destroy
his superstition only strengthened it and
well remembered by sailors. To demon.