The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1894-05-23
A Sailors Second Sight.

To the EahofM Ne,cs and Courier !:
"Did you ever see ghost, Capt.
johnson ?" the writed asked the gen.
ial master of the schooner Redwing,
which was loaded at Olivet last Feb
ruary With something over 300, 900
feet Of spruce pine. After the pause
of few minutes, in which he was ev-
identity debating whether he had a
,'ft audience, though fair, or rather,
perhaps, whether it was safe for him
to seem to be at all superstitious,
he replied that he would answer the
question by relating true story that
would be a puzzle to him as long as he
lived
He had a friend, one Of his oldest and
best, Capt. Sam Tatum, with whom
he was reared in New Jersey town.
The Henry Allen was to load with
coal at Philadelphia for Savannah. and
Capt. Tatum on taking charge Of her
provided himself with a choice crew
made up of friends and neighbors,
of whom one was his brother and
another son Of Capt. Powell. "Bet.
ter men, honester, Drawer, truer and
more gentlemanly, never went aboard a
ship.
''The Henry Allen was two mast
er, and sailed justin time to be caught
off Cape Hatteras in the storm of
1885, which did so much damage in
Charleston, blowing down the Citadel
Square Baptist Church's steeple, and
the like. I was little way up the
Pamunkey in Virginia taking on big
lot of poplar. The day after the
storm was up on the bluff, smoking
and sitting on a poplar log, when my
mate, Jim Jones, came walking slow
ly to the place and said, shaking his
head sadly: Captain, it's certain
that never will we see Capt. Sam and
all of his fine fellows any more in this
world. Last night I dreamt that [
saw the Henry Allen off Cape Halter
as, and she was foundering. One man
was in the forecastle, six or seven were
on the house and there was a man at
the wheel. =" !
Again the Captain hcsitated, as if
hardly deeming it prudent to continue
his story. Being urged to do so, he
resumed: 'I ought to have told you
that Capt. Sam had promised to write
to me as soon as he reached Savannah.
That letter was never written, for he
never got there, and | might say that
I have never heard of him from that
day to this in any trustworthy way,
but [ don t think I ought to say that,
for I think / have"
No one could look in that open,
gray bearded face and doubt the per-
feet truthfulness and faithfulness of
it's owner, but he could not help re-
membering that he was talking to
hearers who did not know him as his
home folks and neighbers did, and it
was plain that he half regretted hav-
ing begun to tell his story.
1.-TWO or three years ago | was in a
ship brokers' Office in Charleston, a
city where was perfect stranger.
Another man, whom | judged to be a
sea captain, was in the room at the
time was. After wLile We got in
to conversation, and naturally enough
we talked about storms and ship
wrecks. The captain, whom l have
met many times since and hold in
high regard, as everybody must who
knows him, told me that his name was
Woodbury.. He is now on the Linah z.
Kaminski.
"He said that the solemnest sight
he ever saw was little way of Cape
Hatteras in 1885, the time Of the
Charleston storm. His ship was
cloee alongside, so close, he believes,
he could have jumped on it, to two
masted schooner lying in the water,
evidently laundering. The wind was
blowing great guns it was night and
the sky was like ink, but right then
there was long fash Of lightning
that made everything as bright as day
for two or three seconds, and right at
our feet was the poor little ship, with
a man in the forecastle, seven or eight
on the house and a man at the wheel.
Then all was dark again until there
came a second fash Of lightin minute
or so, but looked in vain to see the
ship. We must have come to her at
the time she was to meet her fate.
"What Jim Jones toll me on the
Pamunkey bluff came into my mind as
quick as thought, and I told what he
said to Capt. Woodbury., and both OF
us felt sure that the foundering ship
was the Henry Allen and the man at
the wheel was Capt. Sam.
II. F. O.
Oliuet, Georgetown County, May II,