Rocky Ford enterprise., 1912-11-29
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Town 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 is the writer's pleasure TO waste time sailing
the sea in small craft. usually alone. Upon
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 thick fog
eere enough, the unintlated reader will doubtless
think. Upon looking out at the black woolly
wall of fog that surrounded him. he distinctly
heard his own name hailed across the water.
NO other craft was near. This struck him be-
Ing so peculiar that he mentioned it to a friend
when he arrived at of the little anchorages.
and the skipper of barge. CHANGING to overhear,
said; That's the oil gentleman OF the More,
Often of foggy nights ye may ear I'm a-yellins
Rht In kind o 'epless 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 e walked about until
the tide an drownded i'm"
Upon another occasion was sailing along the
coast of France, under the cliffs upon which
stands Girls Nez 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 powerful searchlight. until
proceeding along the course I got out of their
range The strange effect had been forgotten.
only to be remembered in time 10 prevent
from becoming firm believer in ghosts. There
out ghostly ship was sailing: she was
rather too modern perhaps. TO be real ghost.
for every sail set like a glove-ghost ships were
never particular In thls reSpect-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
ship uncannily glowing with unnatural light.
Her sails were surely cobwebs and her ropes
were spder strings
Strange sights and sounds frequently come the
way of seafarers
The grovelling kissing sea, breaking through
the night. Its appearance is CHASTITY gray; II
comes from nowhere. II fades away after.
What could not the Imagination weave ii into?
Shape or sound of spirits chased by the Evil One.
the dying wife with arms outstretched sound
of mothers voice. Moreover. such messages
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
exactly those the lost whispered last.
To the mind of who knows the sea, 1t
would seem strange that sailors not
superstitious than they are and there
tainly many reasonable excuses for their belief
In such stories that of the Flying Dutchman.
A patch of swirling vapor through the rigging OF
his ship upon dark night Imagination does
the rest; he has the Flying Dutchman.
Cornelius VandeTdecken, a Dutch navigator of
long ago. making a passage from Batavia.
For days and days he encountered heavy gales
and battling head winds while trying to round the
Cape of Good Hope. Struggle against the winds
he would. he lost much on one tack as he
gained upon the other. Struggling vainly for
nine hopeless weeks he ultimately found himself
in the same position he in at lrst. the
ship having made no progress. Vanderdecken,
in NJ OF wrath thre" himself on his knees