THE FLYING DUTCHMAN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XVIII, Issue 6147, 30 July 1881, Page 7

THE FLYING DUTCHMAN.

T?iiEEE can .be , little ,'doubt that "Captain Prodgers, of the American barque Salty G., has actually-met the Flying Dutchman.! On the arrival of Sally G., at New London last Wednesday,, irom Palermo, with fruit to consignee, her captain told ,the. .following remarkable story: —On the. 11th of &prjl, last, and at abont 10 o'clock in the morning;' the barque being.then in latitude 42°18|, and about fifteen hundred ■' miles from 'Montaufc. Points-there being a light breeze from the south-south : east, and ' the barque' miming dead before it. with all her square sails set; and the mate having just ordered thejstud-ding-sails booms to.be rigged- sail -was reported a little on the starboard bow. •. In due time the-Sally G. came up, with jwhatproved to be a Dutch brig, so far as could be. judged from her 'spars and green 'deck-fiouse, which backed her maintop-sail, and launched a boat. It wae; evident that her cdptain wanted to speak to the Sally G., and according the latter was hove to, her captain (being a humane man and not being in any particular hurry. The brig was old-fashioned, and from her appearanee had been at sea a long 'time, so long that her name had faded from her stern, unless, of course, it had been designedly scraped off. Still,'she seemed tq.be in , good enough condition, and Captain Prodgera naturally wondered what the Dutchman could want. The latter's boat hooked on to the main chains—there .being; very little sea at. the time—and the "man in charge of her boarded, the Sally G., and made a long speech to tha captiain in" an unknown tongue. The gallant American crew of the Sally. G. consisted, of eighteen - men, among whom were eight Irishmen, 1 three Scotchmen, two Englishmen, a Swede,'and four "Dagos," who were either Portiignese, Spaniards, or Italians. The word wasi passed forward for some one of the crewtocomeaft, and act as an interpreter, but it ,was 'found that there was not a man on board who could understand what the alleged Dutchman wanted. In these circumstances Captain; Prodgers told the mate, Mr. Anderson, that he had better take a boat and board the brig and find out what was the matter.' The; mate promptly launched the port-quarter boat and pulled to the brig. He found a weatherbeaten old man 'in- command of herj who seemed greatly pleased to see him,; but; to all Mr. Anderson's . questions, although , th'ey were asked in the loudest and clearest voice the latter could command, the captain r'eplied at great lengthj but in perfectly unintelligible words. . When the mate chalked the latitude and longitude onthe after-hatch, jthink-' ingthatthe brig's chronometer might be out of order, the Dutch captain shook his heajfl with jrreat emphasis. Mr. Anderson then sounded the well to find if the brig leaked, looked into the harness cask and into the steward's pantry to see if there was any sign that provisions were low; searched through the cabin and forcastle, thinking that, perhaps the cholera had broken out among the crew, and satisfied himself that the water-casks on deck were reasonably full. With all his efforts he could not find that there was anything .wrong about the brig or her people, and when he said to her captain, " So far as I see, | there ain't nothin' the matter no more than what a sailor-man would expect for to find aboard a Dutchman," the latter smiled serenely and began another long speech, after which-Mr. Anderson thanked him, and said it wasn't worth mentioning, and so returned to the Sally G. Both vessels then filled away and stood on their respective courses, the Dutchman steering about south-east, as if he were making for the Bermudas or, say, the Spanish Main. It is Captain Prodgers'nrm belief that this mysterious Duteh brig was the genuine Flying -Dutchman. He was strengthened in that belief by the fact that within eighteen hours after leaving her he experienced a violent hurricane from the westward, which drove him more than a hundred miles out of the course. What the Dutchman wanted will for ever be a profound mystery. If the captain of the brig was really a live man, it is inconceivable that he should induce an American barque to heave to merely in order to make polite speeches in unknown tongues. If, on the contrary, he was the Flying Dutchman, he would naturally do all sorts of mysterious things. Other vessels will do well tokeep a look-out for a strange Dutch brig with single topsail yards; and stump royal masts, and ascertain, if possible her true character.—NewYork.Herald;