Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-09-10
GHOST STEALS LINE OBJECT T0-PR|MARYl'
Crew of Ice Schooner Greeley Virginia Democrats Would
Relates Uncanny Work. Change or Abolish System.
LATER RETURNS THE DIAL AID FOR THE OPPOSITION
But Register Rope Tied With Republicans Advantage
Different Knot tiona Accusations
SPIRIT FORMER CAPTAINa CHANGE CONGRESS DISTRICTS
Sailors Believe Shade of Master National
Drowned at Sea May Have Party
Done Deed Support
Crew of Ice Schooner Greeley
Relates Uncanny Work.
LATER RETURNS THE DIAL
But Register Rope Is Tied With a
Different Knot.
SPIRIT OF FORMER CAPTAINq.
Sailors Believe Shade of Master
Drowned at Sea May Have
Done Deed.

Stories OF sea serpents, sighted where
the Atlantic waves roll high, of bis
sharks caught on chain hooks, of fights
between whales and swordfish, of water
spouts that got near enough to the YES
sci almost to sink 1t. of devilfish running
away with the ships anchor, of floating
ISLANDS that sink as boats approach tc
them and of many other happenings to
those who follow the sea are daily told
on the arrival of vessels in port, but il
is seldom that ship master has a real
true ghost story to tell after a voyage
down the Atlantic coast and up the Po-
tomac river. with Ice for this city.
Such story. however. is told by Capt
Brockett, master of the big four-masted
schooner Gen. E. S. Greeley Of New
Haven. which is lying at the 9th street
wharf. discharging a cargo of refriger-
ating material from Maine
The Greeley, in a ripping northeastern
was burying her nose in the foam of
every sea as she buffeted her way past
Cape Cod bound for the Chesapeake the
story goes. The middle watch, in charge
OF the first mate was on deck, and the
night was black. Capt. Crockett was be-
low in his berth, deep in we'll earned
slumber. when the startling voice of the
mate. telling him that the log line was
senses. Jumping from the berth. he rush
ed on deck. and in the darkness felt
along the rail at the after end Of the
ship. where he had himself made the
line fast with the strongest knot known
10 sailormen.
Search With Lantern.
The line was certainly not there. but
thinking 1t might have been shifted by
some one of the crew lanterns were call
ed for and all hands on the ship, includ-
ing the cook. who does not generally
bother about such things, took look
along the rail- but no log line was to be
seen.
Now the log line is a very necessary
instrument in the navigation of the ship
1t consists of small brass wheel, shaped
like q propeller of a steamboat, attach
ed to a long line, about the size of
sash cord, which trails astern. The cord
Is attached to a register that indicates
the miles. AS the vessel moves through
the water the little propeller spins
around, twisting the line, and this causes
the dial hands of the register to move
and gives the ships master its speed, and
enables him to work out the position Of
the vessel on the chart even when obser-
vations are not possible.
Capt. Brockett took the loss OF his log
line very much to heart. He did not go
below again, but continued on deck. He
felt restless and uncomfortable. as did
the other members of the crew. How
the strongly fastened line could have
worked loose and the register dropped
into TO sea without beng noticed or
heard he could not understand. Several
times during the course of the next two
hours he went to the rail and looked to
satisfy himself that the line was really
gone. 1t was mysterious. for no one
aboard the ship would have had the
temerity to play tricks with the log, even
II they had an opportunity to do so with
out being seen, which was hardly pos
the wheel were both within ten feet of
where the line had been tied.
About to go below TO resume his in
terrupted slumbers. Capt. Brockett took
another look at the rail and was amazed
to see that the log line had reappeared.
Hardly believing the evidence OF his eyes.
he went to the rail and there the line was
sure enough. but tied with knot differ
ent from that he had used. but still good
and sailor-like. Others of the crew look
ed at the line and recognized the fact
that different styl~ knot had been used
to make the log fast to the rail-
Knot Used by Capt. Tolloch.
Faces bronzed by the summer sun and
winds turned pale it was whispered
that this was the same knot that Capt
John Tolloch used in making his log line
fast
There was little sleep aboard the Cree
ley that night In whispers the men told
each other how. in bowling gale off
Cape Cod. little more than a year ago.
Capt. Tolloch had been swept overheard
from the quarter deck of the Greeley, and
of how he had caught the log line trailing
astern. in an effort to save himself, but it
had broken and he went to his doom.
Had Capt. Tolloch. in spirit. visited his
old ship as she sailed over his watery
grave?"
What use would a ghost have for a
log lin, anyhow, il he had taken it?'
These and other questions the men on
the ship asked each other. but the loss
and temperance of the line remains a
mystery. Capt. Brockett and his men
assert that the line disappeared. and
after II was given up for lost reappeared
where IT belonged. The dial OF the reg
lister attached to the line indicated the
number of miles the vessel had travelled
all told, not the number she had made up
to the time it was lost. The crew Of the
schooner would like TO know If there are
ghosts at sea- and why their ghostly Wis
itor contented himself with making off
with the log? Why did he not come
aboard the ship? Was her cargo OF ice
too cold for his ghostship? These ques-
tions the crew Of the vessel refer to stu
dents in ghostly lore for solution.