The Republican journal., 1911-04-06
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FLYING NICKNAME. SEEN, aslsitTf..
isH oEFicERS REPORT.
Tabled Vessel Of III Omen !. Blamed
~ Sr for Ship's Fire. =

s!a y for Ships Fire. =.
/ The fable OF the Flying Dutchman.
the spectral ship that haunts the wa
ters near the Cape Of Good Hone.
which, when seen, is believed by SAIL
ors to be warning misfortune IL
about to befall their vessel. no longer
is a myth to officers and crew Of the
British steamship Kabinga,- Just in
from Calcutta. Every sailor has heard
Of the Dutch mariner who was con-
demned for his crimes to sail the seas
until the day of judgment, and when
his full-rigged ship, ever racing at top
speed in the teeth of gale, bears
down on vessel, only to disappear
when collision seems unavoidable. no
mariner can be convinced something
bad isn't going to happen.
In the instance of the Kabinga. the
omen of the restless phantom came
true, according to the third officer, G.
Hygroo, who had the bridge in the first
watch one night last october and al
most was frightened out of his wits
when he imagined he saw the Flying
Dutchman, with every inch of sail
spread, bearing down on him. His
oSokCu1OAl 10 NY Tile Sec
ond officer, John Paine, who vas going
to the bridge, to relieve Hygroo short
ly before eight bells at midnight.
A gale was raging. The Kabinga
had rounded the Cape of Good Hope
on the voyage to Calcutta when Hy-
groo and Paine saw the apparition
The voyage to Calcutta was without
incident and Captain P. J. Greggans,
who had been told about the spectre,
poked fun at the officers and warned
them to take the sand out of their eyes
when next on the bridge in gale.
The Kabinga took on a cargo in CAL
cutta and was ready to sail, when fire
broke out in the hold. 1t burned a
week before the Malay crew could ex-
tinguish it. Much damage was done
and practically new cargo had to be
shipped for New York. The fire de-
partment in Calcutta, composed of
Hindus, was summoned, but the Ka-
binga's officers assert the men were
towards and refused to go into the
ships hold to fight the flames.
The task thus fell on the officers and
engineers of the Kabinga, and for a
week they toiled to get control of the
fire. Night and day they worked,
leading the Malays into thick smoke
that made breathing almost impossible.
Several were overcome and had to be
taken on deck half conscious.
The Flying Dutchman is said by
sailors to appear only in bad weather.
A southeasterly gale was raging, which
drove the Kabinga up the eastern
coast of South Africa. 1t was pitch
dark and the lookout in the crows
nest had difficulty in seeing any great
distance. AS the vessel rolled and
pitched in the storm the officer on the
bridge was startled by sharp cry
from the lookout.
Sail, hot" he shouted.
Where away?" came the quick
query from the officer on watch, puz-
zled at the good eye of the lookout on
such a night
Dead ahead" was the alarming an
swer.
Hygroo strained his eyes into the
darkness. 1t was five minutes to
midnight, and Paine, unknown to Hy-
gro, stood near him, having come to
relieve him at eight bells. Not fifty
yards away was the Flying Dutchman
all sails spread, the sea foaming at her
bow, and looking as if her skipper had
nothing else in mind but the destruct-
ton of his own vessel and the steam
ship.
The full-rigger carried no light, re-
lated the two startled officers, but Hy-
groo had his wits about him, and,
pushing aside the Malay helmsman
instinctively seized the wheel and put
it hard over. The effort was needless,
for just as it seemed collision was in
evitable the mysterious ship, Hygroo
said, was swallowed up by the OCEAN
New York Press.