The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-06-18
"Ghost" Aboard Ship

Rear Admiral Evans told or an mel dent on a Mediterranean cruise. T have often been entertained with stories of the supernatural" he said, and I must confess that such conver- sations have sorcery to conjure up attention even among the intelligent, but I never had a chance to prove the ghost 8 delusion until the year 1875, when we were cruising in the Mediter- ranean. I have chronicled the event in the Sailors Log
 "On the run to Madeira, the super stitutious feelings of our men, and in- deed of some of our officers, were much excited by a curious incident t. We were under sail and the moon shin
 ing brightly, when 1t became necessary to shorten sail. When the topgallant sails were cleWed up there stood a man on the foretop- gallant yard, clearly outlined against the Tapping canvas of the foreroyal.
 'The officer of the deck hailed the officer of the foreeastle to know what that man was doing aloft, and was as- sured in reply that the men were all on deck. But there stood the man in plain sight in the moonlight. The officer then hailed him, but could get no answer Finally he sent a man aloft to tell the chap, whoever he was, to come down al once and report on the quarter-deck.
 
 excited and waited anxiously to see what would happen, Just as the man who had been sent from the deck reached the fore top, the figure on the yard disappeared, as If 1t had fallen overheard. The watch was mustered and all hands were found to be present. ~
 After this sleep was out of the ques- tion: the men stood about In groups, watching the foretop-gallant yard, wait ing to see the figure reappear, many of them too frightened to reason, and all of them expecting some disaster to befall the lship.
 "On the following night, when the moon was about In the same relative position to the ship, the sails were again cewed up, and, after changing the course slowly a few times, there was the man again standing in the same position on the yard. The mystery was solved; a shadow from some of the canvas on the mainmast was responsible for the ghost 4r Polling of Bell Another of our ships had a curious ghost experience while cruising in the Mediterranean. At about midnight, when more than hundred miles from land and while everything was perfectly quiet about the deck. the sound nf toling bell wa s distinctly heard, and it continued several minutes.
 To the crew it sounded like funeral bell, and they decided that someone was going to die. With much difficulty the men were sent to their hammocks and ordered to keep silence. The next morn ing the story was all over the ship from the forecastle to the officers messes
 When night came again many had for gotten the incident, but at about the same hour the tolling of the bell was distinctly heard again, and the whole crew gathered on deck to listen in superstitious silence
 "rhe officers were much puzzled and many theories were advanced to ac- count for the strange and unusual noise. The third night found all hands, captain. officers and men, on deck, determined, if possible, to find a solution of the mystery
 Near midnight the tolling of the bell was heard again, clear and distinct, tolIing as if for funeral The captai in and several of the officers then began q careful examination, which soon cleared the matter up. The galley of the ship, where the cooking was done, vas under the topgallant forecastle, about 20 feet from the ships bell The fires in the galley were put out at 9 o'clock and 1t was found that at a certain point in the process of cool ing the contracting of the metal in