Research source

I am still near, Watching the smiles I prized on earth, Your converse mild, your blameless mirth.[64

Date of account: Late nineteenth-century compilation
Source: The Ghost World
Reference: The Ghost World · selected passage 194
Rights: public_domain
Language: English
Record updated: 2026-08-24

Record summary

Scotch sailors have their stories of phantom ships

Published source text

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Source passage

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Scotch sailors have their stories of phantom ships. Thus a spectral vessel--the ghostly bark of a bridal party maliciously wrecked--is said to appear in the Solway, always hovering near a ship that is doomed to be wrecked; and Cunningham[250] has given a graphic account of two phantom pirate ships. The story goes that, for a time, two Danish pirates were permitted to perform wicked deeds on the deep, but were at last condemned to perish by wreck for the evil they had caused. On a certain night they were seen approaching the shore--the one crowded with people, and the other carrying on its deck a spectral shape. Then four young men put off in a boat that had been sent from one ship, to join her, but, on reaching the ship, both vessels sank where they were. On the anniversary of their wreck, and before a gale, these two vessels are supposed to approach the shore, and to be distinctly visible. A Highland legend records how a large ship--the 'Rotterdam'--which went down with all on board, is seen at times with her ghostly crew, a sure indication of disaster.

Historical context

Contextual commentary · mention only

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Modern context

Contextual commentary · mention only

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