The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1907-03-06
UCEAl1 10 LlAUNlLD
GHOSTS OFTEN SEEN AT SEA,
SAYS A SAILOR.
Come Aboard, Seemingly, to Visit, and
Not TO DO .tiarnn---Their Appear.
anoe Looked Upon as
Warnina.

are common enough at sea-" says a
writer In the Manchester Guardian.
"He says that some parts of the
ocean are full Of spirits. and that
others have none. str sfiksl
FThey are not often sepn. Only
common ghosts are seen. according to
the old sailor. lie says that they
often come aboard ships. bnt not TO
do harm; that the early morning IL
the hest time To see them. a little
before turn-to time. before the ships
cook has the coffee ready.
There Is an old story of a ship
which carried an extra hand who had
never signed articles. The crew dis.
covered. when they were In blue wa.
ter. that one watch had u man too
many.
81 once knew sailor who had
sailed in haunted passenger steam
er. She was one OF the ships plying
between the Plate and Liverpool. but
| cannot mention her name, as she is
a poop 40 biz as the poop Of an East
lndiaman.
This poop is haunted. The sailor
who told me of the ghosts was one
OF the ships quartermasters. Or one
passage. when the ship was In the
tropics. he had the middle watch be.
low. The fo'c's'le (Which happened to
he aft, under the poop was so hot
that he could not sleep.
"At last he turned out of his bunk
took blanket and pillow and went
on deck to sleep. lie made up his
bed on the poop TO leeward of one of
the boats. and settled down to rest
al about three In the morning, just
az the dawn had begun to change the
color OF the sky.
"iIe did not know how long he
slept; but he woke up with q start
To see line OF men broomlng down
the poop toward him with boatswain
In front Of them, swilling boc.ets of
water on to the deck as they worked
aft. He saw them as plainly as / see
my dinner ON my plate. some three
or four yards away, all working hard.
They were 50 ,ar that he sprang to
his feet at once, grabbing up his gear
lest IL should be wet.
"He had hardly taken his gear in
his hand when he thought with
shock that he had oversight himself
at least an hour and half that il
was now half past five, since they
were washing decks; that he hadn't
been to muster and that he would get
bee in his ear, IL nothing worse, for
going on deck to sleep without leav-
ing word where he could be found.
AS he got up he saw that the boat.
swain and the hands took no notice OF
him. though one of the sweepers
looked in his direction.
He was red-headed fellow said
the quartermaster, and he'd got a
scar across one cheek like he'd been
hit by club; an ugly looking lad he
was. So l knew at once he wasn't
one of our crowd
"'And saw him as plain as | stand
here, and he looked at me; and saw
the boatswain as plain, too: ! saw
him tell the red-headed fellow to
heave round on his broom and not so
dreaming like n God send Sunday fel.
low No, didn't hear him say that
only seen him.
"'And the fellow, he went on
grooming down directly | seen him
get told. felt queer all over: Il was
so natural. wasn't dreaming. was
awake all right. It was vision. Or
II IL wasn't u vision III tell you what
IL was--it was sent.
alt was sent as q warming That
red'headed fellow was u warning.
Some time l shall meet that red.
headed fellow, and you mark my
words, he'll give me a queer push.
sure.
$50 shall stand from under when
] come alongside of him. I'd know
him again IL | saw him, all right.
Some day / shall see HIM
'The vision or warning, or what.
ever IL was, kept him awake for the
rest Of the watch. He went below to
the fo'c's'le, having had enough or
the poop, and found that he had been
asleep hardly more than 20 minutes.
There is something wrong with
that poop. It is not a canny place.
81 know of another queer thing
which happened there. and of a man
who started up from his sleep beside
n boat to prophesy Of what should
happen to him in years time. The
prophecy seemed to every one the
most crack-brained nonsense: but ii
was fulfilled exactly, almost TO day,
certainly within q week OF the time
predicted"