Chrysler Sailors Forum

Safety Tip
Dock Cleats. Never forget them. Remind your friends and guests they are there. Everytime. Each and every dock cleat is nicely colored as to blend in with the dock! Folks will trip on them and they WILL get hurt! One time I was coming down the dock and decided to jump up onto the deck of our boat! Unfortuately my left foot just snagged a cleat enough to throw my timing off! I came down on my shin on the toe rail and life line! I still bear the scars. Another time which hurt worse was watching my bride step off the stern of Destiny and tripping on a cleat. She went down hard. That hurt way worse than the day I went down. So always remind your guests and point out dock cleats. They'll laugh and half ignore you. However you've done your job should someone trip anyway.



Question:
OK, forgive me, I'm feeling very lazy today and am still not in my own time zone. So, my question is aimed at gathering information for me. There is no wrong answer here. What is your favorite Ghost Ship story? I lean heavily towards non fiction type stories. The Mary Celeste I think is one that stands out for me. I'm not sure why but I really enjoyed that one! Everyone has heard of the Flying Dutchman but do you know what the story is about? So I challenge you to share a good read and a great ghost ship story. Bring on the goods! For an answer Thursday I will give a very brief summary of the story of the Mary Celeste. If you know of a great ghost ship story, please share the name here and maybe even a brief summary if you are up to it!

I don't know any ghost ship stories other there than the Flying Dutchman and I believe I know the story behind it and going around the Horn of Africa, so I will not tell that one but even the ghost part of that story includes me.

I appear to have another large hole in my maritime knowledge. I saw a Ghost Hunters TV show about a lighthouse Haunting once that had them convinced in ghosts but that was not a ship.

I await some good stories.

Thanks
Alan

My grandfather grew up in Nova Scotia, near Halifax.

When he was a little boy he would go down to the docks and listen to the "old salts" tell ghost stories of pirate ships and treasures...

When I was a kid he would tell us stories that would make Mom mad cuz he scared the heck outta us! I remember him tellin us about the "treasure at Oak Island" and how glowing heads could be seen over the sink hole protecting the loot... Geeze he was a great story teller!

Other than I got nothin...

Billy

Mary Celeste has been one of my favorites

ANSWER:
or . . . . . better yet . . . . the NON answer! LOL!

OK, here is a very breif listing of my understanding. I do however strongly suggest you google and find a good book on the "Mary Celeste" including the fact that she was wrecked in Haiti in 2001!!!


The Mary Celeste was a Brigantine. She was loaded with alcohol in the US and was on her way to Europe in 1872. She had aboard a good crew, Captain and the Captains family. she was found derelic with no souls aboard in fine sailing condition. No indications of foul play, storm or other damage was found. The Captain, family and crew all missing. Signs of a very fast exidus are apperant . . . . The mistery begins.

There are MANY explainations describing what may have happened. My favorite to date is . . . . . .

She was carrying alcohol which at the time was extremely volitile. When a leak or fumes were present it was common for the crew to open all hatches and exit the ship in a dinghy under tow to allow the ship to "air out". Thus avoiding a possible explosion and loss of all life. Speculation indicates that the crew did just this. Take the launch in tow and safely leave the ship. Further speculation guess that a small front came through. The good ship fully rigged picked up speed with the launch in tow thus rendering the crew unable to reboard her. The launch possibly cut herself away to avoid capsizing or maybe they simply snapped the tow line.


well, OK then. There is one speculative story as to what happened that fatefull day in December 1872

I find these types of tales very entertaining and was hoping for a few more to add to my book collection. I hope you research this story and learn a little more!

Scott

Ok Scott you got us interested
Let us work on it for a couple months and bring the subject back up in October, and we can exchange scarry stories for Halloween