Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1898-02-18
THE N GHOST.
By CHARLES B. LEWIS.

Would you believe that so late as the
year 1889 a fine clipper ship had to be sold
for a song and converted into a coal barge
because of a ghost aboard which gave her
a bad manner Such was the case.
The Memo was a Clyde built ship and
was launched in 1870. She was builS for
and owned by Perry Joslyn of Liverpool,
who was the owner Of six other ships, all
voyaging to India or Australia. AS a rule,
two or three men are killed and as many
more badly injured in the building and
rigging Of a ship, but in the case of the
Memo no man met with the scratch of a
finger. The launch was the fairest of a
score of ships from the same yard, and
when fully rugged and ready for her maiden
voyage the new creation was said to be the
handsomest vessel hailing from the great
port. A valuable cargo was ready for her,
and the owner had the luck to secure y
skipper in the person of Captain Halpin,
who had commanded half a dozen different
ships and never met with a serious acct
dent.
We got to sea one day in a way to please
all hands, and inside Of "a hours we found
the craft to be a witch for sailing. When
she got settled down to her pace, she show
ed the speed Of q steamer and carried ia
vorable winds for the first seven days out.
Then, m night at 10 o'clock, the breeze
died away until the Memo lost steerage-
way, and 1t was at IL O'Clock that the
ghost was first heard Of. A man named
Charles Jones was on watch on the bows
at that hour. He was a sober, dignified
man and the best of the crew. As
third mate Of the ship I had the watch at
that time, while the captain and the other
mates were asleep and seven or eight men
were lounging about on the fore and main
decks. Of a sudden Jones screamed out
and came running aft in a state Of great
excitement. He was in such a state Of
alarm that 1t was five minutes before he
could relate his story. He was pacing to
and fro, he said, keeping a bright lookout
and not thinking Of anything in particu-
lar when he suddenly found something
walking beside him. He heard no step or
sound, but a something stood shoulder
to shoulder with him. 1t wasn't exactly |
a man, nor yet was 1t q shadow. The sail. |
or felt its breath on his cheek and turned |
to seize 1t, but the something" laughed
at him and glided away. I was greatly
provoked with the man and charged him
with having slept ON his post, though l
knew that I did him injustice in this. 1t
was q cloudy night, with the moon break
ing through now and then, and l contend
ed that his something was but q shadow
and ordered him back to his post. Moth
ing further happened that night, and the
next morning the captain called the old
aft and gave him to understand that
II he saw or felt any more ghostly visitors
1t would be bad for him. The crew would
talk the matter over and side with Jones,
but that anything further would be seen
Of the "~something" no man believed.
-Four nights later and two hours after
midnight, while the ship was making a
good eight knots per hour and everything
was going smoothly, as the first mate had
the deck, the entire ship was aroused by
something which happened in the deck
house. There were eight or nine men
there, and a man from the watch
deck went in to his chest to get a plug
of tobacco. The slush lamp had been
turned down, SO that the place was but
dimly lighted. The nan was bending over
bis chest when something seized him in q
clammy embrace. and forced him to the
floor. He thought 1t wal one Of the crew
him a trick, but he scrambled up
to find them all in their hunks and to see
. shadow glide away. The sailor set up a
shout, the watch below turned out, and
presently everybody was on deck, and ex-
element reigned fore and aft. In return
for his story the sailor got q dose Of ropes
md, though after fogging he still main
batned that he been hugged by q ghost.
tho nvNoNkow Aa0k Swo n~n1nfnnI a. oxnyov |