Post by aneaglesangel on Jun 4, 2006 20:24:39 GMT -5
The Ghostly Sailors
I hope you'll lend anear
A man and boy togather
Well on for fifty year
That I have sailed upon the ocean
In sumer pleasant days
And through the stormy winters
When the stormy winds do rage
I have tossed about on georges
Bin a fishing in the bay
Flown south in early seasons
Most aney where it would pay
I have bin in different seasons
To western banks and grand
Have bin in herring vessels
That went to Newfoundland
There I saw storms I tell you
When times looked very blue
But some way Ive bin lucky
Bin lucky and got through
I aint a brag however
I wont say much but then
I aint no easier frightened
Then the most of other men
Twas one night as we were sailing
We were off shore aways
I never shall forget it
In all my mortle days
It was in the grim dark watches
I felt a chilling dread
Come over me as if I heared one
Calling from the dead
Right too the rail they clymed
All silent on by one
A dozen ripping sailors
Just wate untill I am done
Their faces pail and sea wet
Shone ghostly through the night
Each fellow took his station
Just as if he had a right
They moved around among us
Untill land was just in sight
Or rather I should say so
The light house shoud its light
And then those ghostly sailors
Moved to the rail again
And vanished like the myseit
Before the brake of em
We sailed right in to harbor
And every mothers son
Will tell you the same story
The same as I have done
The trip before the other
We were on georges then
Ran down another vessel
And sank her and her men
Those where the same poor fellows
I hope god rest their souls
That our old craft ran under
That time on georges shoules
So now you have heared my story
It is just as I say
I do believe in spirrits
Since that time aney way
I have heard a couple of variations to this story, but there are a few things that remain trueto each story I've read about this ship, this haunted ship. I became interested in it when a good friend of mine mentioned it to me. I was spellbound as she told me the tale, so I came home and did a bit of research to make sure I had the facts straight. This is the tale that inspired the song above.
The Charles Haskell was a sorry fated ship. From the time it was being finished up and a man fell, breaking his neck, it was considered an unlucky ship. Noone would crew it, and the captain that was commisioned to take her out to sea refused to fulfill this duty. It sat for
over a year before a Captain Curtis of Gloucester, Massachusetts agreed to take the position.
In September of 1871, a hurricane hit George's Banks, a still popular fishing spot. What the ships would do during such a storm was they would cast their anchors and try to sit tight until the storm blew itself out. One ship had lost its anchor line and was heading straight for the Charles Haskell. In desperation, the crew of the Charles Haskell cut the anchor line to try and get out of the way of the ship that threatened to sink them both. As they were carried away by the currents and waves, they crashed into the Andrew Johnson, a fishing vessel out of Salem, Massachusetts, cleaving her in two. She
sank, taking all of her crew down with her. The Charles Haskell returned to port, damaged but still in one piece. She did not return to sea until the next spring.
That spring they returned to fishing as normal. They were out to sea for about 60 days, when two of the night watchmen witnessed a horrifying spectacle!! From out of the sea, men wearingoilskins climbed over the railings and took up positions on the ship. They went about workingthe ship, baiting lines and letting out sails. The night watchmen ran to get the Captain on
deck. He and the rest of the crew watched as the phantom crew went about the chores of a sailing
ship. Captain Curtis immediately turned to head for home, Gloucester, Massachusetts.
On the two nights it took to get back to Gloucester, the midnight crew would return. Crawling out of the sea with dripping wet oilskins, their faces white in the moonlight, their eyes sunken and hollow. When they got into sight of the Thatcher's Island lighthouse, they climbed back over theside and headed for Salem, their home port. Word spread of the haunted crew that had boarded the Charles Haskell and noone would crew her. She sat in disrepair for quite some time before she was sold to a firm in Nova Scotia, where she was used to transport wood. After that, I do not know what fate she saw. I only know that the legend of the ghosts who boarded her and acted as a ghostly crew, grew and many people sang the song above, substituting their home port as the site of the tale. I know not if she still sails across the seas, crewed by ghostly mates wearing
oilskins, or if she has joined her crew at the bottom of the Atlantic. All I can hope is that all the fishermen found their way home once again!
I hope you'll lend anear
A man and boy togather
Well on for fifty year
That I have sailed upon the ocean
In sumer pleasant days
And through the stormy winters
When the stormy winds do rage
I have tossed about on georges
Bin a fishing in the bay
Flown south in early seasons
Most aney where it would pay
I have bin in different seasons
To western banks and grand
Have bin in herring vessels
That went to Newfoundland
There I saw storms I tell you
When times looked very blue
But some way Ive bin lucky
Bin lucky and got through
I aint a brag however
I wont say much but then
I aint no easier frightened
Then the most of other men
Twas one night as we were sailing
We were off shore aways
I never shall forget it
In all my mortle days
It was in the grim dark watches
I felt a chilling dread
Come over me as if I heared one
Calling from the dead
Right too the rail they clymed
All silent on by one
A dozen ripping sailors
Just wate untill I am done
Their faces pail and sea wet
Shone ghostly through the night
Each fellow took his station
Just as if he had a right
They moved around among us
Untill land was just in sight
Or rather I should say so
The light house shoud its light
And then those ghostly sailors
Moved to the rail again
And vanished like the myseit
Before the brake of em
We sailed right in to harbor
And every mothers son
Will tell you the same story
The same as I have done
The trip before the other
We were on georges then
Ran down another vessel
And sank her and her men
Those where the same poor fellows
I hope god rest their souls
That our old craft ran under
That time on georges shoules
So now you have heared my story
It is just as I say
I do believe in spirrits
Since that time aney way
I have heard a couple of variations to this story, but there are a few things that remain trueto each story I've read about this ship, this haunted ship. I became interested in it when a good friend of mine mentioned it to me. I was spellbound as she told me the tale, so I came home and did a bit of research to make sure I had the facts straight. This is the tale that inspired the song above.
The Charles Haskell was a sorry fated ship. From the time it was being finished up and a man fell, breaking his neck, it was considered an unlucky ship. Noone would crew it, and the captain that was commisioned to take her out to sea refused to fulfill this duty. It sat for
over a year before a Captain Curtis of Gloucester, Massachusetts agreed to take the position.
In September of 1871, a hurricane hit George's Banks, a still popular fishing spot. What the ships would do during such a storm was they would cast their anchors and try to sit tight until the storm blew itself out. One ship had lost its anchor line and was heading straight for the Charles Haskell. In desperation, the crew of the Charles Haskell cut the anchor line to try and get out of the way of the ship that threatened to sink them both. As they were carried away by the currents and waves, they crashed into the Andrew Johnson, a fishing vessel out of Salem, Massachusetts, cleaving her in two. She
sank, taking all of her crew down with her. The Charles Haskell returned to port, damaged but still in one piece. She did not return to sea until the next spring.
That spring they returned to fishing as normal. They were out to sea for about 60 days, when two of the night watchmen witnessed a horrifying spectacle!! From out of the sea, men wearingoilskins climbed over the railings and took up positions on the ship. They went about workingthe ship, baiting lines and letting out sails. The night watchmen ran to get the Captain on
deck. He and the rest of the crew watched as the phantom crew went about the chores of a sailing
ship. Captain Curtis immediately turned to head for home, Gloucester, Massachusetts.
On the two nights it took to get back to Gloucester, the midnight crew would return. Crawling out of the sea with dripping wet oilskins, their faces white in the moonlight, their eyes sunken and hollow. When they got into sight of the Thatcher's Island lighthouse, they climbed back over theside and headed for Salem, their home port. Word spread of the haunted crew that had boarded the Charles Haskell and noone would crew her. She sat in disrepair for quite some time before she was sold to a firm in Nova Scotia, where she was used to transport wood. After that, I do not know what fate she saw. I only know that the legend of the ghosts who boarded her and acted as a ghostly crew, grew and many people sang the song above, substituting their home port as the site of the tale. I know not if she still sails across the seas, crewed by ghostly mates wearing
oilskins, or if she has joined her crew at the bottom of the Atlantic. All I can hope is that all the fishermen found their way home once again!
