400 



The Review of Reviews. 



AprU to, 1906. 



A CHAMPION GHOST STORY OF THE SEA. 



Boarded bv a Spectral Crew. 

 The Occult Review for March publishes a " Story 

 of Mid-Ocean Visits "—a ghost story which would 

 have appealed strongly to Robert Louis Stevenson. 

 It is vouched for as true by the narrator, Captain 

 Johansen, of Liverpool, of which Mr. Birchall, the 

 niiuiaging director of the Liverpool journal of 

 Commerce, says: — "Captain Johansen may be re- 

 garded as absolutely trustworthy, and I certainly 

 think that his statements may be thoroughly relied 

 upon. ' 



TWO MEN IN A BOAT OX THE ATLANTIC. 



Captain Johansen begins liis weird narrative by 

 telling us: — 



lu ihe autumn of 1900 I made a trip across the .\tlantic 

 [an account of the trip has been published in C/i«m- 

 htrni Journal. They were fifty-nine days in crosaingj 

 from Gibraltar to Florida, in a small open boat. During 

 the vovage a most estraordiuary visitation occurred to 

 me— to me it was no illusion. Here is a plain account of 

 it 1 may here remark that I had always be«n a 



decided unbeliever in anything pertaining to the super- 

 natura). 



MYSTERIOUS VOICES. 



His incredulity was soon put to a severe test: — 



On the eighth day out. August 28tli. 19(X). in the forenoon. 

 I was sitting in tlie stern of the ' Lotta. my boat, steer- 

 ing, while my son was sleeping, when I heard a voice close 

 to me as if someone had made a remark. Shortly after I 

 heard a second voice, different from the first, as if lu 

 answer to the remark. Then I heard other voices in dif- 

 ferent keys, and softly modulated tones, remarks, re- 

 sponses and interjections, until it seemed there was a 

 general conversation going on round about me, all in a 

 foreign tongue, no word of which 1 could understand. 



His son also heard the sound of the voices, but 

 they could see nothing. 



A GHOSTLY HELMSMAN. 



On the tenth day a gale sprang up. The boy was 

 at the helm, when his father ordered him to let go 

 the jib sheet. The boy obeyed, but he let go not 

 only of the sheet but of the tiller. Instantly 

 shadcAvs of men flitted past the binnacle light and a 

 tall hgure grasjied the tiller and sat down beside the 

 son. When Captain Johansen went to the stem, 

 this man addressed him, while his companion stood 

 by, in a language which, says the Captain, " I do 

 not ever remember to have heard in my life, and no 

 word of which I could understand. He seemed verj- 

 earnest, as if he wanted to impress some important 

 truth on my mind." The tall spectral helmsman, 

 finding that he could not make Captain Johansen 

 imderstand, stood up in the boat, facing to w^ind- 

 ward, shouting with commanding voice, as if direct- 

 ing some operation carried on in the immediate 

 vicinity. Captain Johansen heard a voice respond, 

 but he could see nothing in the darkness. 



a GHOST WITH AN IRON LEG. 



Captain Johansen continues his narrative as fol- 

 lows : — 



After this the leader sat down on the thwart immediately 

 forward of tlie seat in the stern where my son and myself 

 were seated facing him. the sheen from the binnacle lamp 

 illuminating his features. I noted his stature was about 



SIX feet. He was of muscular build, and had iron-grey 

 hair, features elongated, with a lofty brow, firmly-set 

 mouth and prominent jaws; his countenance was pale, and 

 there was a sardonic smile playing about his lips that 

 gave his features a striking appearance: he was dressed 

 in a coarse white canvas cap, without a peak, a faded 

 mantle looking the worse for wear enveloped his shoulders, 

 and a sash around his waist held his trousers, which were 

 of a dark woollen material. I noted in particular that he 

 had a substitute of iron for his left leg of about 15 inch 

 diameter, at the bottom of which was a plate of the same 

 material doing duty for a foot the bottom of which was 

 worn bright with continual service, and that his left 

 trousers leg was neatly tied with a string at the particular 

 place where the ankle ought to be. His companions were 

 short of stature and broad of chest, and their features 

 were good-humoured and bronzed by the sun : they were 

 simply dressed in shirts and trousers, with sashes at their 

 waists doing service for lielts. 



GHOSTS AS VALETS. 



His son, being drenched through, went amidships 



to his trunk to change his clothes. As he passed, 



two of the spectral crew took possession of the lad 



and proceeded to act as his valets: — 



My son was addressed iu endearing tones by the men. 

 one' of whom toolj him by the hand and patted him on the 

 shoulder, while the other man tried to embrace him. an 

 attention he seemed unwilling to endure. Then the trunk 

 was opened and dry clothes were brought fortli; one of 

 the men helped to relieve liim of his wet apparel while the 

 other handed to him the dry clothing, article by article, 

 as required, a flowing commentary in softly modulated 

 tones being kept up all the time by the strangers. After 

 this one of the men gathered up the wet clothing in a 

 bundle, took the sash from his waist, and tied the bundle 

 with tlie sash to the mainhoom. Then I understood that 

 our visitors, whoever they were, and though so uncere- 

 moniously intruding on our privacy, were friends desirous 

 of our welfare. 



THE PIRATE ON THE BO^VSPRIT. 



Captain Johansen slept soundly that night: — 



Wheu I woke again it was dawn. I started up and 

 looked forward. There was the leader sitting astride of 

 the inner end of the bowsprit, like a person riding a horse. 

 He was shading his eyes with his hands and intently scan- 

 ning the horizon ahead and to windward. As he sat there, 

 his mantle thrown loosely over his shoulder, he looked like 

 some great piratical chief in quest of the next prize ot 

 which to make conquest. A grim figure-head! and in- 

 congruous for our trim boat. 



THE SPECTRAL SIGNALLERS. 



When next the Captain woke the ghosts were 

 gone. At five at night he and his son were congratu- 

 lating themselves upon the departure of their un- 

 welcome guests, when 



Lol as we were talking, and looked forward, there were 

 the strangers again in that end of the boat. There was the 

 leader in his faded mantle, canvas cap and iron leg. with 

 the same sardonic smile on his pale face, talking to his 

 companions iu commanding tones. We watched intently 

 to see what would follow. One of the men detached the 

 jib at the tack, while a second got hold of the sheet: 

 the former took up a position on the gallant forecastle, 

 and the latter stationed himself at the mast. In these 

 positions the two men kept swinging the jib from starboard 

 to port and from port to starboard for upwards of ten 

 minutes, while the leader, with hands shading his eyes, 

 and the remaining man kept scanning the horizon in the 

 direction whence we had come. I could understand tliey 

 were making a signal. 



Nothing could be seen, and after a while the visi- 

 tors retired to their old quarters at the bottom of the 

 forward end of the boat, where they seemed to be 

 discussing something. 



THEY VANISH. 



The Ci-ptain was furious. He decided to solve 

 the mysterv. If he could do nothing else he would 



