The Cook County herald. [volume] (Grand Marais, Minn.) 1893-1909, 1901-09-07
a 30 G HOsT SHIPS

sfiIvERlNa TALE TOLD OF orr
OCEANS MYSTERIES.
Haunted Hulks Which Pow the Great
Tackles Main Strange Forms Wl,Ieh
startie superstitious seamen The
Flying Dutchnan Seem or Caps Horn
Ian smen boast or their haunted
houses and the weird spirits that dance
N country graveyards at midnight..
l-''l there's not a house, no matter
now nov black and dismal and how far
#spac s rom the public road 1t may be
sitting, nor how many murders nav
nave been committed within its walls
+ years ago, that can compare in super
natural terrors with the haunted ships
With their crews Of dead men that
haunt the trackless waves Of the
ocean. And there's not ghost on
land no matter how many grave
yards he may proWl around, nor how
many q old mansions he may rattle
chains in and groan and disport hin-
self, that can hold up his head for one
minute min in the presence of one of the
grlsly, grinning, matted, sdank ghosts
That ships as A. B. on a ghost ship.
Inere is an air of vagueness and
unhealthy anyhow about the ocean that
makes ma it naturally more fit abiding
place for ghosts than the prosaic
shore. The great trackless, unfath-
omed, mysterious deep, with it's CEN
turtles of nameless horrors still locked
firmly in its silent bosom, is the
proper place for ghosts. And SO it is
no wonder that they who go down to
the sea in ships believe as firmly in
spirits and spirit ships and rowing
hulks with crews of men dead CEN
turies agone as they believe in their
own existence. One Of the spectral
ships best known to landsmen gener-
ally is the Flying Dutchman, with
which Capt. Marryat made his readers
acquainted. The Flying Dutchman was
trying to round the Horn some time.
in the early part Of the 18th century.
The ship was repeatedly driven back
by contrary wind and tides until the
ships captain, Vanderdecken, swore a.
fearful oath he would round it if it
took till Judgment day. Vanderdecken
was taken at his word, and now for
three centuries he and his worn crew
have been battling to round the cape.
Sailors watch with fear and trembling
when their ships are rounding the
Horn, afraid that every moment may
bring 1,r into view the spectral Flying
tDutchman. It is believed that every
appearance of the Flying Dutchman will
be followed by death or misfortune to
some Of the crew of the ship that sees
it. Off the stern, rock-bound coast of
New England is not infrequent1y seen
the ghost of the ship Palatine, whose.
appearance scudding in the teeth of a
gale is always supposed to betoken dis
aster. The PaIatine was Dutch trad
ing vessel which was wrecked on Block
Island in 1852. The wreckers, who by
means of false beacons along the shore
had lured the ship to its doom, made
short work of the vessel. They stripped
the ship Of everything movable and
then set fire to the hull to conceal the
traces of their work. AS the boat lift
ed up by the tide foated away down
the channel piercing scream was
suddenly heard from the cabin and a
woman clad in white, but wreathed
around in red flames, was seen stand
ing in front of the mainmast. She
had been a passenger on the ship and
had hidden below to escape the wreck
ers. She burned to death in sight Of
the people along the shore, and since
that time the ghost Of the Palatine
with the figure Of woman in white
standing in front Of the mainmast has
been seen hundreds Of times by SAIL
ors cruising in those waters. The dead
ship of Salem is well known off the
Massachusetts shore. Just 20 years ago
the ship was ready to sail to England,
when two mysterious people, whom
none in the village had ever seen be-
fore, came hurriedly aboard and Sc
cured passage. They were a young
ding beauty. The ship was detained
SO long by adverse winds that the
townspeople began to suspect witch
craft and prophesied disaster. But the
skipper jeered at their fears, and when
the wind changed put out to sea on
Friday morning. No word or sign of
that ship or its living freight was ever
seen or heard again. But later that
same year incoming vessels reported
having met a craft with shining hull
and luminous spars and sails spinning
along with every cloth drawing in the
teeth of one of the widest of gales. A
crew Of skeletons manned the ship.
while on the quarterback stood arm in
arm a handsome pair, a young man
and a woman.
Improving His Voice.
Canon Dayman, WHO for half cen
fury was rector Of Shillingstone pub