Free Maritime Mysteries by Bill Jessome

ghost ship. He’s sailing home, back to England.”
    A Seagoing Mystery
    W hile spending a vacation on Cape Breton Island, I spent some time travelling up north. One day, while enjoying a coffee and sandwich at a local eatery, an elderly gentleman introduced himself and apologized for the intrusion. “That’s okay,” I told him. He then proceeded to tell me about his adventures sailing around the world and wanted me to know that ships like houses are also haunted. I agreed. Was I interested in hearing a tale?
    Of course.
    â€œWell, then,” he said, “I’ll tell you one—one you’ve never heard before.”He was wrong, I had heard it before; I heard it the first time while on Big Tancook Island and again in a fisherman’s shack at Three Fathom Harbour. The story is also included in Helen Creighton’s Bluenose Ghosts .
    As it’s impolite to tell someone you’ve heard the joke or story before, I listened as this salty old salt proceeded to tell me one of his favourite sea-faring tales.
    â€œThere was this Captain George Hatfield, out of Fox River, Nova Scotia, and this happened well over a hundred years ago. Anyway he sailed out of Cuba bound for New York and ran into a bad storm. Well, sir, after riding out the storm for near two days and two nights he was exhausted and needed to get some sleep. So, after giving orders to his first mate, he went below to catch forty winks. No sooner was he asleep, when somebody was trying to wake him up, and the capt’n heard a voice whispering, ‘Keep her off half a point.’ Well, sir, this kinda set the captain off a bit so he went topside to tell the mate off. But the mate told him it wasn’t him. Anyway, ol’ Capt’n Hatfield went back to his bed wondering if a dream could be that real. Well, he fell asleep again and damn if it didn’t happen again. There it was. Someone tapping him on the shoulder and telling him, ‘Keep her off half a point.’ Up to the bridge straight away went a really mad capt’n. And again the mate told him no one went below and that he must be dreaming. Back to his bed goes Capt’n Hatfield and sure enough no sooner was he asleep when again someone was nudging his shoulder. This time it was not a whisper he heard, but a command to keep her off a half point. When he opened his eyes, there was this stranger leaving the captain’s cabin. Capt’n Hatfield noticed the clothes he wore were different from what he and his crew wore. Back on topside he asked the mate and crew if anyone saw a stranger leaving his cabin. They told him they saw no one. Then he remembered the voice in his sleep, so he told the mate to keep the ship off half a point. He then went below and slept the rest of the night. Next mornin’, ol’ Capt’n Hatfield told his crew to keep a sharp lookout. It didn’t surprise Capt’n Hatfield when they came on a vessel in trouble. Now this other captain was a fellow named Amesbury. And his ship was named the D. Talbot . On board were Amesbury’s wife and two children. They were brought safely aboard Hatfield’s vessel just before the D. Talbot sank.
    The survivors told Capt’n Hatfield it must have been a miracle he was in the same waters as they were. Well, sir, Capt’n Hatfield thought about that for awhile and then told them about the voice in his dream telling him to alter course and keep her off half a point. When he described the stranger leaving his cabin, Captain Amesbury’s wife, nearly fainted away. When she got her breath back, she told capt’n Hatfield the man he described was her father who had died ten years ago!”
    When the gentleman finished his story, he smiled and said, “Well, how about that.”
    I smiled and said, “Yeah, how about that.” We said our goodbyes and before he left, he said he’d send me some more mysteries of the sea and some landlubber ones as well.