THE HAUNTED SHIP.

Evening Post, Volume XLIV, Issue 44, 20 August 1892, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE HA UN TED SHIP.

In the year 1853 I was first mate of the H , a three-decked ship of about 1500 tons burden, lying in Mobile Bay, waiting for a cargo of cotton. Our sailors, 24 ia number, were all coloured men, pretty fair seamen generally, but, with four or five exceptions, wofully ignorant and superstitious. We had been in the hay between three and four months, so the spars and rigging had been thoroughly overhauled and put to rights. I was sitting in the cabin one evening planning out work for the ensuing day, when my second mate, a rough old seaman of the packet school, requested an audience. " Well, Mr. X., what is the matter now?" "The matter is, sir, that those darkies forward there are getting so scared, that unless we do something to or for them they won't be worth shucks. Borne of them ain't good for much now, and there's no use in having the rest of 'em spoiled." "But what are they frightened at ? I have never heard anything of it before now." "No, they ware afraid to say anything to you about it ; but for the last month they have had a yarn about a headless ghost going around the decks at night, groaning at an awful rate. Some of 'em say it's a darkey without a head, and others say it is a white chap with a black face ; but, whatever it is, there they are, afraid to come on deck after dark or stand anchor-watch alone. " This is a strange piece of business. If there is a ghost abroad I should think it would first pay its respects to the quarter-deck. Do you think any of the rascals are playing tricks ?" "No, sir; the knowingest ones are the moat scared.' There's Bob and Jackson ought to know better, but they both swear they saw it in the middle watch last night — just told the third mate so." "Well, suppose we go and inquire into it?" * We went forward together, and came down so suddenly upon the sailors that they evidently thought that two ghosts had arrived instead of one. After the alarm and confusion had subsided, I told them what I had already heard, ana" asked for further information, which was readily furnished by a dozen eager volunteers, who, now that their tongues wore loosoned by authority, eeenied anxious to outrival each other in their tales of horrors. It is noodlesH to repeat their stories, but about half of them had seen the ghost in one of its forms, and all of thorn had repeatedly heard the groans. Bob and Jackson, my two ho3t men, who were acting as boatswains, positively declared that they had seen it in the forecastle on tho previoue night, standing up against the bitt, where I was then leaning. This bitt, a timber about a foot equaro, coming down through the uppor to the main deck, near the middle of the forecastle, was painted black up to within a foot of the deck, and the remainder of it a lead colour. On either side of it, in the spar deck, was a bull's eye to admit light, and there were several nails, on which were hanging various articles of clothing. "You saw the ghost standing hero, did you ?" "Yes, sir; right where you are now, air." " Was the moon shining last night?" '•Yes, sir. Quite bright in the middle watch." " Did you speak to or try to catch the ghost?" " JNo, sir. Wouldn't do such a thing for the world." "if you had yon would have found out that tho ghost was nothing moro or loss than this bitt, with the moon shining through the bull's-eye on it and on the clothing you see hanging there now." There was a general look of incredulity upon the faces of the crew, and one of them mustered up courage to ask : — " But how about tho groans and noises, sir ?'' '¦ Oli. some of you snore loud, and all the rest is imagination." Finding that argument or persuasion was of no use in altering the opinions of my crow, I left them after giving them the following admonition :—: — "Now, men, in the first place, thoro aro no such things as ghosts ; and, secondly, I wish you to understand that there is no gbost aboard of {his ship; and if you can't be made to understand it ia any other way, I'll give you the fun of hunting all night for it. YouJ know what I mean. Good-night." Having given the second mate bis orders for the following day, I sat down to think the matter over, and ask myself a few questions, as the sailors say. One thing that had puzzled me was now accounted for. Several of the men had come to me for permission to be transferred to other ships that were ready for sea, but this I had attributed to the characteristic restlessness of the class. My ship was considered a good one for sailors. Thoy were well fed, and kindly used so long as they behaved themselves ; had plenty of work to do, so that there was no time for growling or fomenting discord. It was the ghost that made them anxious to leave the ship. There was no fear of their running away ashore, because, in those days, if a coloured man could not show his free papers in the South he was presumably a slave and held as such. Things progressed as usual aboard of the ship for several days, and I heard nothing more about the ghost, but my own time was coming. _ One evening I had given my junior officers permission to absent themselves from the ship, and was sitting l>y myself, alone in the cabin, waiting their return. I sat dcziug in my chair, when my reveries wore disturbed by a sound like a halfsmothered groau, that seemed to come from tae forward part of the cabin on the starboard side. I was wide awake in an instant, though •scarcely able to credit my senses. The groans were distinct enough, ! and srere repeated in about the same i interval that is required for a human breath. As I listened the sounds came nearer, but seemed to rise up from the lower decks. Without any further consideration I slipped off ray shoes, trimmed my dark lantern, firmed myself with a good stigk, and Started in search of the ghost. Flashing the light ahead of me, I ?vent carefully along, guarding against a surprise. This was needless for HD°n reaching the locality of the sound?, they vrere beneath my feet again, coming up from the lower hold. Matters were assuming an unpleasant aspect I will »ot say that my hair stood on mid . b»t certainly my feet stood still, waile my confidence in the supernatural and myself began to be slightly shaken. I hesitated, doubted, and finally, concluding that it would be better to wait until my officers returned before pursuing the investigation, beat a most inglorious retreat to the cabin. But there I could not rest, for now the sounds -were apparently under the cabin floor, aa it

they had followed me up from the lower hold. Suddenly I thought of the carpenter, a stalwart Dutchman, and hurrying to his room roused him out. " Chips ! do you hear that noise ?" " Yes, sir. I hase hear him many times, and I shust puts mine head unter my pleinketa acd says noting." " Turn out, now, and come down in the hold with me, and we will see what it is." " Dunder mit Blitzen ! I shall nicht go." "Come along, you fool," said I, impatiently, " you are no worse off there than here. I have been down between the decks alone, and now I •want you along, so that if any of the men are down in the hold we can cut them off." This view of the case seemed to reassure him somewhat. Wending our way aft over the ballast, the sounds constantly becoming more audible, we finally reached the sternpost,, and there, while the groans came mournfully from among the timbers of the stern frame, we stood still, no one visible but ourselves. I do not know whether I was frightened, but my heart never beat so fast before ; and the poor Dutchman stood trembling as if struck with palsy, the drops of perspiration starting out like beads. My own nerves were somewhat shaken, but there was the pride of rank and station ; so, after listening to the unearthly sounds for a few minutes, we returned to the cabin together. We could not satisfy ourselves regarding the cause, and finally retired thinking that the poor darkies might after all have some foundation for their fears. We remained some three months longer in the Bay, and, as no secret was made of these occurrences, the old " H." reoeived the name of "the haunted ship." Many a merry party we had in the cabin, and then would go down into the hold to listen to the unearthly wailings of the tortured 'spirit who had chosen my ship for its abiding place. At length our own day of sailing came. Having but little wind in the morning, the steamboat Swan came to tow us outside Mobile Point. While at my station on the forecastle I heard Captain George aboard the Swan calling out for my harpoon, which was handed over to him, and in a few minutes there was a splashing in the water alongside, a shouting on board the Swan, and then our ghost was lying on her forward guards. Work was temporarily suspended, so that all hands might see what form the spirit had taken. There lay an immense Jew, or drum-fish, a well-known denizen of southern watera, which receives its name from the hollow, drum-like sound it makes when seeking for its food. This specimen was of unusual size, being nearly six feet long, and weighing over 6001bs. Having taken on board over 2001bs. of his ghostship as an addition to our sea stock of provisions, we tripped our anchor, made sail, and were soon out in the Gulf of Mexico, making the best of our way towards the Gulf of St. Lawrence to take in a cargo of deals for London. Notwithstanding the capture of the drumfißh, and the rational solution of the myster3 r , some of the crew were loth to abandon the delusion ; and until the " H." was lost, two years afterwards, she bore everywhere the ill-name of "the haunted ship." — Scribner's Magazine.