The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1901-12-15
OCEAN HAS PHANTOMS
Ghostly Ships That Haunt the Sea
Subject for Yarns.
ONE OF THE MYSTERIOUS CRAFT.
Death Of Lookout Who Spies II Follows
Soon After--Weird Bark, With Skeie-
ton Crew Under Full Sail.
,ew York Commercial Advertiser.

ANeN 1orK commercial Advertiser.
Landsmen boast OF their haunted houses
aud the weird spirits that dance in country
graveyRrds at midnight. But there's NO n
house, no matter how black and dismal and
how far back from the public road 1t may
be sitting, nor how many murders may have
been committed within its walls year ago,
tsat can compare In supernatural terrors
With the haunted ships with their crews Of
dead men that haunt the trackess waves
of the ocean. And there's not ghost on
land, no matter how many grayeyar1s he
may prowl around nor how many old man
slons he may rattle chains In and groan
and dlsport himself that can hold up his
head for one minute In the presence OF one
OF tue grisly,. grinuing matted, dank
ghosts that ship as a. Is. on u ghost sap.
There is an air OF yaguencss and unreal
ity anyhow about the ocean that makes IL
naturally more ut abiding place 10
ghosts than the prosalc shUre. Inc great,
trackess, unfnthomcd mysterious deep,
with its centuries OF nameless horrors still
hrmly locked In its silent bosom, Is tnc
proper place for ghosts. And so II Is no
wonder that they who 20 down TO the SEA
In ships believe as firmly In spirits and
spirit ships and rowing nuiks with crews
Of men dead centuries ngoue as they be-
lieve In their own existence.
One of the spectral ships best known to
landsmen generally is the Flying Dutch
man, with which Captain Marryat made his
readers acquainted. The Flying Dutch
man was trying to round the Horn some
ca,,,r,i ~ ~" III PSt a Va - 5f
bacE ~ cdttrsr Pyyln6S on3 tIdSe mil tbn
ships captain Tanderdecken, swore a fear
fHi V"en ~ "U5u io.ii i,u,it u ~ t0V V III
his word, aud now for three centuries he
enu ms %lrn FreW nave been batting TO
round me cape. sailors watcn win tear
Ing the Horn, afraid that every moment
may bring into view, the spectral
irving Dulchman II Is Deheyed mat every
nppeaiahce OF me flylng putchmon wiz
be followed by death or misfortune to some
OF the crew OF the snip tAAt sees the Ghost
vessel
In the private Journal of the late DIXIE
clarence ana ms RIoLner; the present duke
OF CorhWall aud YORK, during their cruise
Is gifen or IneIr experience WITH the Fly
ing Butchmhn when thry icH In with
near Sydney Ihe duke wrote: ,,,.,-
July IL, lSS1, at O. M, the Flying
Dutchm1h crossed our bows. strnnge
red light, as Of a ph2n ON snip all ag.ow,
IN the must OF when Ilght The masts,
spars and sails OF the brig, 200 yards dis
tant, stood out In bold relief. AS IT. came
ported II as close on, the port bow. The
night being clear and the sen calm, thir-
teen persons altogether saw II hut whether
u was van Dlemen or the Fylpg Dutch
man or who else must remain unknown
The Iourmalne ana Cleopatra, which were
ta!lnE on our starpoard DOW, mashed 10
ASK Whether We had seen the strange red
hrHNS' a. iNsfo IL III tue uIulhhlN NeA-
man VINO had THIS morning reported the
FLYING putchman fell from the foretopmnst
cfosstreeS ana was smashed 10 atoms.
AZ the next port We came to the
admiral also was smitten down
on the. stern, rockhound coast Of New
England rs not lntrequently seen the ghost
or ihe snip inlatlne' whose appearance
scuudlng IN tne teeth OF gale Is always
sunppsfu 70 petoken dlSAster'
me ihatlne was llntch trading vessel
mat was wrecked on Block islnnd In lIa2
Ihe wreckers VINO ny means OF taiSe hen'
cons Along the shore had lured me snip
70 rs M"om, mtdG snort work or the YES
SCI i1ey stripped tine snip or eYervth nH
mufhp,t ana then set nrc 70 the nun 70
conceal me traces OF their WORK As the
9oat, IHted IN by the tide, Heated away
doWn thc cu"nncl piercing scream Waa
suddenly heard from the cabin and q
woman clad In white hu' wreathe9 around
In rcd hames, was seen standing In front
Of tho mainmoSt She hnd been n p1s-
scnger on the ship ana had hidden below
u escape the wIcckers. She burned 70
denth In sight Of the people along the
shore, and since that time the ghost ot
the palatine win the figure Of a woman
IN white standing IN front Of thc mainnnSf,
has. been seen hundreds Of times by sailors