Ladysmith news-budget. [volume] (Ladysmith, Rusk County, Wis.) 1907-1927, 1912-11-15
SEA SUPERSTITION
Queer Tales of the Ocean Which
Have AWed Sailors.
ARE STRANGER THAN FICTION


Same Berth, Brought Up the Missing
Piece of Rigging.
Not long ago, on Aug. 81, 1909, to be
exact, the four masted schooner Mary
f. n. G.. Dow collided in Portsmouth
harbor with the FIVE master Fannie
Palmer, and both were badly damaged.
The Palmer was repaired at Ports
mouth, n H., and then sailed for New
port News, Va, where she loaded
cargo Of coal for Portland, Me. The
Dow went to Bath, was overhauled
and sailed in ballast for Baltimore.
Before she had been day at sea she
butted into schooner off Cape Cod,
which proved to be her old adversary,
the Fannie Palmer. This singular ac-
cident did not knock any letters Off
the Mary e. II. G. Dow's name, but 1t
did set multitude Of tongues wag-
ging In maritime circles says the Bos-
ton Globe.
Apropos Of 1t, many other freak
catastrophes Of the past are recalled,
| and the auditor soon comes to the con-
clusion that 'exaggeration Is never a
necessary adjunct to the recital OF
the salty old yarns Truth Is, In
deed, stranger than fiction, and hap
penings as improbable as the work
ings Of the most vivid imagination
have actually transpired on blue wa
ter.
The "Old Nick" Is credited with hav-
ing hand in most incidents which are
out Of the ordinary or which fall to
complete elucidation, and well may I'M
lettered Jack incline to the supernat-
ural until some one shall explain to
his satisfaction the ironies of fate and
freaks Of destiny which have brought
about certain problems with which he
has wrestled. Small wonder 1t Is that
superstition Is rife on salt water and
that nearly every seafarer cherishes
pet ideas OF his own concerning fore
runners, presentiments, and the like.
Condolences as remarkable rs that
Of the Dow and the Palmer abound in
the marine records, but none is more
striking than the loss of the man.
moth seven masted schooner Thomas
W. Lawson, which on the first and
last foreign voyage Of ner career was
capsized off the Sicily isles, with the
death Of eighteen Of her crew, on Fri
day. the 18th Of December, 1907,
date made famous by her more IA
nous namesake.
It was in the same locality that an
ether strange event occurred, COLI
sion between the British warship
Sapho and a passenger steamer or the
same name. There was apparently not
enough room on the wide Atlantic Tor
these two to pass. so they came togeth-
err. and the world marveled.
Here are a couple more queer coin
cidences. The schooner Live Yankee
lost her headgear while fishing on
Georges banks, and a year later. while
living in the same berth, brought up
the same piece of rigging on her mud
hook" In the interim hundreds of yes"
sells had anchored in the vicinity, ana
II was regarded as extraordinary that
no other craft had found it.
Captain William Patterson was
Newburyport pilot and one night was
scanning the horizon from the top OF
his schooner's cabin when the main
boom came up behind like an assassin
and knocked him overheard. No one
else was on deck. no one heard his
cries, and the schooner glided away
into the moonlight. The skipper was
good swimmer and managed to keep
af1oat till another vessel came along
and fished him out The next day he
landed at Boston, and coming home by
rail- found flags along the water front
flying Mt half mast, the pilot boat hav-
ing come in and reported her loss, while
his own arrival in Boston had not been
made known.
Many shipmasters have acted upon
warnings received in dreams which
they firmly believe have saved their
vessels and all on board. Before great
storms they were often received on YES
sells in dangerous berths on the flshipg
grounds, and many times they consist
ed of admonitions to ''up anchor and
get out" Captain Wenzell Of the Glou-
cester fishing schooner Sachem had
substantial ground for his belief in
such warnings. His steward commu-
nicated strange dream to him which
so impressed him that he obeyed It's
dictates, sounded the well and found
bad leak. 1t gained rapidly on the
pumps, and Captain Wenzell steered
for a sister craft, the schooner Pesca-
dor, putting his crew on board her just
as the Sachem went to the bottom.
There was something a little appall-
ing in the case Of the Wendell Burpee,
q British schooner which became UNI
manageable in a storm Off Portland.
The sailors, frightened by the jagged
rocks inshore, momentarily growing
nearer got frantically into their yawl
boat and attempted to row for safety.
The yawl never reached shore, but
the schooner was thrown high on the
beach with little damage Had the
men remained on board they would