The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1912-11-29
III (aan2ZT GGZD MRZEARDE nE

dowr to the sea in ships? VIII he not rather
give an ear to the tales of strange things seen
and believed by sailor-folk?
1t 10 the writer's pleasure to waste time sailing
the sea in f. small craft, usually alone. Upon one
of these voyages, having anchored upon the edge
OF the More Sands, he awoke in the middle of the
night to find himself enshrouded by q thick fog
eerie enough. the uninitiated reader will doubtless
think. Upon looking out at the black woolly
wall of fog that surrounded him, he distinctly
heard hts own name hailed across the water.
NJ other craft was near. This struck him as be-
ing SO peculiar that he mentioned it to a friend
when he arrived at one Of the little anchorages,
and the skipper Of a barge, CHANGING to %OyerheaT,
said: That's the OF gentleman Of the More!
Often Of foggy nights ye may ear i'm a-yellins
aht in q kinI o 'elpless way, but sometimes is
language is something horful. They say as e
was a first mate wot dropped overheard and
swan to the sands, where Q walked about until
the tide tose an drownded i'm"
Upon another occasion / was sailing along the
coast Of France, under the cliffs upon which
stands Girls Nee lighthouse, which Is about the
most powerful light in the world. 1t was a very
dark night, and the revolving rays of the light
house kept flashing upon the sails of my boat,
lighting them like a powerful searchlight, until
proceeding along the course | got out Of their
range. The strange effect had been forgotten,
NhiS u Ue I5HeLIUGIeu III llmb 10 prevent HIS
from becoming a firm believer in ghosts. There
out at sea a ghostly ship was sailing; she was
rather too modern, perhaps, to be a real ghost.
for every sail set like a glove-ghost ships were
never particular in this re~spect-indeed, she was
one Of those fine ships out Of Glasgow which are
the last words In sailing craft.
From apparently nowhere a ship had come
a ship uncannily glowing with an unnatural light.
Her sails were surely cobwebs and her ropes
were spider strings!
Strange sights and sounds frequently come the
way Of seafarers.
The grovelling kissing sea, breaking through
the night, Its appearance is CHASTITY gray; 1t
comes from nowhere, 1t fades away soon after.
What could not the imagination weave 1t into?
Shape or sound Of spirits chased by the EVIL One,
the dying wife with arms outstretched, or sound
OF mothers voice. Moreover. such messages as
sea Sounds give have frequently come from the
dead; the howl Of the raging gale. or the muir
muir Of the gentle breeze through the ~halyards,
have borne the departing message in words that
were exactly those the lost one whispered last.
To the mind OF one who knows the sea, 1t
would seem strange that sailors are not more
sliperstitious than they are, and there are Ger
tainly many reasonable excuses for their belief
IN such stories as that OF the Flying Dutchman.
A patch Of swirling vapor through the rigging OF
his ship upon a dark night. Imagination does
The rest; he has seen the Flying Dutchman.
Cornelius vanderdecken. a Dutch navigator or
long ago. waa making a passage from Batavia
For days and days he encountered heavy gales
and banning head winds while trying to round the
Cape OF Good Hope. Struggle against the winds
as he would. he lost as much on one tack as ne
gained upon the other. Struggling vainly FOR
nine hopeless weeks. he ultimately found himself
In the same position ms he was in at first, the
ship having made no progress. Vanderdecken.
In a ct OF wrath. threw himself on his knees