Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-10-06
foreroyal, and all the officers and men of
ha Cpprreaa saw


from aloft; but 1t never moved. An awed
hush fell upon the ships company and all
eyes were trained at the strange, weird ap-
partition on the high and rocking yard. The
full moon made 1t almost as light as day,
and every one could see that the stranger
wore the uniform Of a man-o' -warsman.
1.-THE officer of the deck, who took little
stock In the supernatural but who had
been little startled at first, now broke the
tense silence by ordering man to lay
aloft and tell the stranger on the yard 10
come down-whoever and whatever he
was.
"Our sailors are we'll trained and will
obey orders, even when they are command
ed to place spook under arrest. Slowly
the man made his way aloft. eagerly
the foretop the figure nthe foretopgal-
liant yard disappeared as IL by magic
seemed to resolve itself into a thin cloud
and vanish.
Upon mastering the watch every man
was found to be accounted for. Some of
the officers were nightly troubled at the
occurrence. while some pretended to pooh
pooh it. But 1 think none of them felt
really comfortable. and as for the men.
there was little sleep among them that
night.
groups and discussed what had happened in
awed whispers. casting now and then fear
full glances at the foretopgallant yard,
watching to see il the ghostly figure reap
peared.
Bob Evans, who was executive of the
Congress at that time. alludes to this incl
dent in his Log and accounts for 1t by
saying that the apparition was shadow
cast by some piece of canvas when the ship
was in certain position
But the ghost, IL ghost 1t was. was seen
once after that while the Congress was on
the same cruise; and on these two occasions
only, as far as can find out. If it was
shadow, as Evans declares, why was 1t not
seen frequently?
Most Seafaring Ghosts Benefcent.
You can find lot of people-or could a
few years ago-who were, on the Congress
at the time the ghost appeared on the fore
topgallant yard who take no stock In the
shadow theory. But the ghost of the Con-
gress was a beneficent one and was content
with soaring the crew half out of their wits.
Although every man on board-at least
every man before the mast-expected that
some great calamity would overtake the
ship. none did overtake her. She went
| home to pass into rotten row at the Ports
mouth yard, and finally to pass off the
navy list along with the other vessels of
her date and class.
LAS a matter Of record 1t would seem
that nearly all seafaring ghosts are we'll
disposed creatures. A haunted man-of-war
for instance wore herself out in long and
faithful service on all the seven seas with
out meeting with any great calamity, in
spite of the undeniably haunted bell she
carried.
1.-THE old navy was well supplied with
ghosts-I have only mentioned a few of
them-and that navy was almost uniformly
successful. The new navy. I have no doubt,
will in time acquire a set of ghosts of its
own and be equally successful
Zone spook ought to mention is the one
which used to have his abode on the coast
| survey schooner Eagre when that one-time
yacht was manned and differed by a naval
photographic party.
THE Eagre, you know was formerly the
Mohawk, flagship of the New York Yacht
Club. She was captized off Staten Island
in 1876, and Commodore Garner, his wife,
and several others were drowned. No., it
was not the ghost of any Of these drowned
ones which haunted the Eagre but the
shadowy wrath Of an old man with a long
beard whom nobody recognized.
He used to appear in the port state
room off the companionway, and was quite
harmless and companionable. l believe he
left the ship, to be seen there no more
when a certain officer. much given to a
study of the esoteric science, was detached.
But can bring you several persons who
have seen the kind old gentleman sitting
by the head of their bunk-and his pres
| ence could never be satisfactorily accounted
for"
A Fleet Of Phantom Ships.
"Well," remarked the paymaster as the
first lieutenant paused in his talk, Il can
not boast the acquaintance Of any navy
ghost exactly, but if it comes to phantom
in the midst of whole fleet of them
when l was a boy my uncle owned a
| fishing vessel sailing out Of Gloucester, and
in response to my entreaties he let me
make a voyage to the Banks in her.
"One day we anchored in st. Mary's bay
on the south shore of Newfoundland, for
| water or bait or something, L have for
gotten what. 1t was bright and clear when
we came to anchor, but pretty soon
| dense fog rolled in on us and settled
| down SO thick you could cut it.
Then a strange thing happened. Out
| in the impenetrable gloom of the fog came
the sound Of ereaking cordage and tapping
sails, and every now and then the muf-
fled voices of men-as If We were lying
in the middle Of a feet of fishing vessels,
anchored or coming to anchor, around us.
Now, not another vessel had been in
| sight when the fog shut in, and thought
at first that fleet had driven in with the
men on schooner looked awed and SOL
emn. and cast curiously startled looks at
each other as the mysterious sounds came
out of the obScurity.
{" Seems to be a lot Of other fellows
| anchored in here I remarked to one Of
the crew, but he only said shut up! and
seemed strangely nervous and anxious
| about something.
Might closed in and several times I
| imagined that I caught the faint CLEAN
of anchor lights through the fog. But the
| strange nervousness Of the crew, which
even prevented them from more than half
eating their supper. and the strangeness
and weirdness Of the whole thing began
to get on my nerves also-more especially
as could get no one to tell me what was
the matter.
About midnight the fog began to lift,
and in an hour 1t was a clear starlight.
| Almost everybody had remained on deck
| I among the rest-and as soon as the fog
| lifted we were under way for the open
sea- But not a single fisherman, Or other
vessel of any sort, could be
"Once clear of the land old fisherman
told me the story of ST. Mary's bay. 1t
| was, in brief, as follows:
In August Of 1882 a fishing fleet of a
hundred sail, homeward bound, took
refuge from a great storm in st. Marys
bay. The storm proved of unusual severity
and the shelter Of the bay insufficient.
The hundred vessels went down, and all
| on board were lost. Ever since that fate
full August day, whenever fishing vessel
Is fog-bound and storm-bound in that bay
the ghosts of the lost fleet surround it, as
1t had just surrounded u.s.
Explain it as you like, there is the
story and there the facts of what
I saw and heard-or what 1 thought
did.
1.-The story Of the phantom fleet is well
known along the coast of the Maritime