Sea Legends
9/22/2006 6:03:40 PM by Stacy Wynn
From mysterious at-sea disappearances to ghost ships and mermaids, we explore the uncharted world of sea myths and truths that have been documented since man first set sail.
Warning: Nightmares may ensue.
For the most part, the world's oceans still remain a mystery despite GPS navigation, radar, and depth sounding which is a large part of the charm of boating and yachting on this untamed territory that makes up the majority of our planet.
THE BERMUDA TRIANGLE
Perhaps the biggest of all the ongoing sea legends is the Bermuda Triangle, the place where not only ships and airplanes have been known to vanish in the past, but where odd, unexplainable encounters still occur. Modern vessels have reported sailing past ancient sailboats that disappear as quickly as they appeared. Some say temporary time warps caused by the Triangle's unique electromagnetic field are the answer. To date, nothing has been proven.
GHOST SHIPS
If ever a boat was fated to become a ghost ship, it was the Mary Celeste. Originally called Amazon, the ship was launched in 1860 for what would become a disastrous career. During her 10 years as Amazon, she saw numerous accidents and changed ownership several times.
Renamed Mary Celeste after being purchased at auction for $3,000 and extensively retrofitted, she sailed off with noted captain Benjamin Briggs, his wife, daughter and eight crew from New York Harbor on Nov. 7, 1872. She was destined for Genoa, Italy with 1,700 barrels of alcohol aboard.
On Dec. 5, 1872, the Mary Celeste was spotted by the Dei Gratia floating abandoned about 400 miles off course in the Bermuda Triangle. The men boarded the ship to determine what had occurred. The ship was discovered to be completely seaworthy, yet the crew appeared to have left in a rush. The galley was a disaster, with utensils and appliances tossed about. No lifeboats were ever found, though a tow rope hung from the stern. Many of the alcohol barrels were empty. The Mary Celeste is still occasionally spotted by wary yachtsmen on dark nights a lost ship wandering aimlessly in a fog.
Perhaps the most famous of all ghost ships is The Flying Dutchman. The ship was sailing around the Cape of Good Hope at the southern tip of Africa when it became enmeshed in a severe storm. Legend has it that the captain refused to sail to a safe port when he had the chance, and as a result, the ship and the entire crew were lost and cursed to sail the seas for eternity. On Jan. 26, 1923, at 12:15 a.m., four mariners spied The Flying Dutchman in all her eerie glory through binoculars. The two-masted vessel had a thin mist instead of sails. Professional mariners view sighting The Flying Dutchman as an omen of distaster. She most often appears during severe weather.
But ghost ships aren't only found in oceans. The Great Lakes have their share of mysterious boat encounters. The Griffon set out from Green Bay on Lake Michigan and she and her crew were never seen again. Over the years, several sailors claimed to have seen the abandoned Griffon unnaturally cruising the lake.
Lake Superior's ghost ship is the infamous Edmund Fitzgerald. This ore freighter sank on Nov. 10, 1975. All 26 of its crew lost their lives. Ten years later, the ship was sighted afloat by a commercial vessel. It's said that ghosts reside beneath the waters as well. In 1988, a recreational diver was diving the wreck of the steamer Emperor when he reported seeing a crewman who was lying on a bunk. He says the ghost turned and looked at him.
Statistically, the British Isles and surrounding area have the most tales of ghost ships. The most haunted site is considered to be Goodwin Sands where, according to local tales, more than 50,000 people have met their maker on the sandbank. Though the Bahamas and Caribbean also make an impact with countless sightings over the centuries.
In 1821, Jean Lafitte's pirate ship, Pride, sank off Galveston Island near the coast of Texas. From 1892, when Confederate soldiers first reported spotting her, she has since been seen several times in the same waters with the same crew. Typically, the schooner appears out of the fog and is surrounded by a blue light. All hands are on deck working the sails, though their eyes are enigmatically blank and they pay no attention to the observing boat. She then fades back into the fog.
MERMAIDS
Not all watery sightings are eerie. Mermaids provide a happy change of pace for a boater's meeting with the paranormal. Mermaid sightings go back to the days when cultures believed in fishtailed gods and continue through the 21st century. In 1493, Columbus wrote in his log that off the coast of Haiti, he and his crew spotted, three mermaids rise from the sea. They are not as beautiful as they are painted, although to some extent they have a human appearance in the face.
The Orkney Islands, off the northern coast of Scotland, is known for its mermaid sightings. The most famous was nicknamed the Deerness Mermaid, which was spotted in Newark Bay over the summer of 1890. Hundreds of eyewitnesses swore to the encounters. In 1913, there were multiple sightings of a mermaid in the deep waters off the southeastern coast of the island of Hoy in the Orkneys. Reports from the crew of the Longhope fishing boat say that the mermaid rose from the waves and appeared to be a lady with a shawl around her shoulders. She was spotted three separate times.
THE QUEEN MARY
The ghostly encounters of famed luxury liner The Queen Mary do not occur between the liner and passing boats or mermaids, but on board. While acting as a troop carrier during WWII, The Queen Mary in an attempt to evade U-boats, and under strict orders to continue forward no matter what, collided with the HMS Curacoa and broke it in half. Three-quarters of the 439 men aboard Curacoa were lost. To this day, people aboard The Queen Mary claim to hear the sound of rending metal and screaming men in various spots on the liner.
In 1967, as the ship traveled to her final home in Long Beach, California, and began to be converted from a ship to a floating hotel, more ghosts began to make their presence known. Mysterious engine room noises occurred regularly. There were sightings of a bathing beauty ready to dive into the now-drained pool, and a records check revealed that a woman had indeed once drowned in the pool. Wet footsteps are often found next to the dry pool. The first captain who died aboard has been spotted pacing the bridge. Then there is Watertight Door 13. The most significant sighting at Door 13 was when a tour guide, who knew nothing of the location's history, saw a young man standing in the doorway, who then faded away. She was later able to pick John Pedder, who was crushed and killed by the door, out of a large selection of photographs.
FACT OR FICTION?
Some say that ghost ships are weather mirages in great storms, while others pedantically claim that mermaids in the Caribbean waters are simply manatee sightings of the uninitiated. Yet neither explanation, nor the countless others available, completely rationalizes away the varied tales that come from famous mariners, obscure cruisers, or single witnesses or large groups with no knowledge of the tales. For the non-believers, there's always the option of a sleepover onboard a hunted vessel or a cruise that takes you right through haunted waters that is, if you really don't believe.