Page 30 - Encyclopedia of the Unusual and Unexplained Vol. 3

10 Ghosts and Phantoms

he HMS Eurydice, a 26-gun frigate that
capsized and sank in Sandown Bay during
a blizzard in 1878, is a famous phantom
T vessel that has been sighted by sailors
over the years. On October 17, 1998, Prince Edward of
England (1964– ) and the film crew for the television
series “Crown and Country” saw the three-masted Ghost Ships
ship off the Isle of Wight and managed to capture its
image on film.
Sources:
Perhaps the most famous of all ghost ships is the Rickard, Bob, and John Michell. Unexplained Phenomena.
Flying Dutchman, whose legend states that as punish- London: Rough Guides, 2000.
ment for his impiety and blasphemy, the captain, Cor- Spaeth, Frank, ed. Mysteries of the Deep. St. Paul, Minn.:
nelius Vanderdecken, must sail until doomsday. The Llewellyn Publications, 1998.
appearance of this supernatural vessel is considered Winer, Richard. Ghost Ships: True Stories of Nautical
by seafarers to be an omen of ill-fortune. Nightmares, Hauntings and Disasters. New York: Berkley
Publishing Group, 2000.
Another one that is a forerunner of disaster is the
ghost ship of the Yangtze River, a medieval Chinese
pirate junk. The ghost junk has been said to herald
wars, famines, and the deaths of thousands. Off of the
Chileo Island, in South America, a ship apparition
called the Caleuche, is claimed to leave broken down
boats and drowned men in its wake.
On January 5, 1931, the MS Tricouleur, with a
cargo of chemicals, exploded and sank after leaving
Calcutta en route to Bombay. Sailors off Ceylon still
report seeing her pass them before disappearing into
the fog.
Inhabitants along Bay Chaleur of New Brunswick,
Canada, sight a “fire ship” that has been appearing
for more than a century. Some theorize the ship was
an immigrant vessel that sailed mistakenly into the
bay instead of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Struck by
lightning, it burned and ran aground at the mouth of
the Restigouche River.
Many New Englanders claim to have seen anoth-
er burning vessel, The Palatine, a ship from Holland
that met with foul play during Christmas week, 1752,
and sunk off Block Island near the coast of Rhode
Island. In his poem “The Palatine,” John Greenleaf
Whittier (1807–1892) made the unfortunate tragedy of
the ill-fated ship a part of American literature.

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