Folklore

Ghostly Encounters of the Northumberland Kind by William B. Hamilton

A man who followed the sea... tions of the Prince Edward Island about twenty minutes and then it claimed to have seen a ship in full sail coastline stand out Western Prince disappeared. I had heard so much and on fire off St. Peter's Island, County; off De Sable, Canoe Cove, and about the phantom ship that I decided where she was seen by quite a few Charlottetown; and from Wood Islands this must be it. My sister, who was residents of that area and on a around to Murray Harbour. Similar visiting friends nearby, said she saw the number of occasions. At one time, the cases have been reported on the same thing on the same night." Upon more venturesome of the viewers, mainland, from districts opposite those occasion the outline of a ship is not familiar with the Northumberland on the Island shore: Pictou Island, Cape reported, as in the following version: waters, took off in a boat... when John, Brule Point, Malagash, Gulf "About seven p.m. on a January they came in close proximity, the Shore in Nova Scotia, and from the evening my attention was drawn to a ship, quite a large brigantine, Buctouche-Richibucto sections of New ball of fire out on the Strait about ten disappeared in a twinkling of an eye, Brunswick. An intriguing aspect of these miles off to the right of Pictou Island. It beneath the cold waters of the Strait. eyewitness reports (from both sides of was definitely not a lighthouse and the the Strait) is their similarity, tending to light, in the shape of a half moon, was of — Walter Shaw in Tell Me The Tales prove that a curious light does appear, a dark red colour." Nova Scotian especially as the harbinger of a storm. folklorist Helen Creighton has written What do people remember seeing? that the phenomenon often starts out as Let the question be answered in the a ball of fire which develops before the Tor at least two hundred years, words of those who have experienced onlookers' eyes into a three-masted possibly longer, people who live within these unusual encounters. The follow- ship. Sightings have taken place during sight and sound of the Northumberland ing is typical: "One October night I was all seasons of the year, winter as well as Strait have reported seeing " .. .a returning from visiting a neighbour; summer; however, the vast majority of burning ship out there." To plot these while walking along I was looking out "happenings" have occurred during incidents on a map suggests that there over the Northumberland Strait where I September, October, and November, are a few prime locations, areas which saw a ship burning. It was a clear night usually before a northeast wind. over the years have reported an unusual and I could make out the outline of the One can be justifiably skeptical of number of such sightings. Three sec- ship quite distinctly. I watched it for solitary accounts of the phantom ship;

33 phantom ship. On the New Brunswick side many people believe that they are witnessing a reappearance of the barque Colbum, lost during a violent October storm in 1838 Others call it the John Craig light, since a ship of that name was once lost off the treacherous Shippigan Shoals. Along the Nova Scotia coast residents are convinced that the phantom is the Isabella which set sail with a cargo of lumber in December, 1868. Bound for South America, the Isabella was last sighted by the lightkeeper on Amet Island; thereaf- ter no trace of the ship or crew was ever found. Most witnesses are quite consis- tent in their description of a three- masted schooner or a brigantine; how- ever, one informant from the Wood Islands area suggested to me that it may be a reappearance of the ill-fated steamer Fairy Queen, wrecked off Pic- tou Island on October 1, 1853. How- SHAOEO AREAS fNDICATe ever, history and folklore do not always THOSE PWW5 OF MORTHUMBEfflAND blend, since the Fairy Queen did not STRAIT FROM WHICH GHOST SHIP SIGHTINGS HftVE BEEN REPORTED. burn, but rather foundered and cap- ^eotia sized. A native of Murray Harbour, while not naming the ship, provides a graphic account of the reason behind the phantoms. "A pirate ship pillaged a vessel from the old country and in a drunken brawl both ships caught fire lowever, sometimes large numbers of these rescue attempts have served to and all hands were lost" Then, too, people have witnessed an appearance. embellish the legend as suggested by there are those who assert that it is the Roland Sherwood reports one such the Charlottetown Daily Patriot in 1885. return of an immigrant ship bound for incident from Cape John, Nova Scotia, "Another story still more improbable is Pictou and lost in an autumn gale when notice was conveyed by tele- to the effect that during the appearance somewhere in the Strait, or perhaps a phone of an appearance of the phan- of the apparition a good many years pirate ship sunk near Merigomish by a tom ship. "Soon word spread to River ago, a boat put off from shore with British warship during the Napoleonic John some six miles away, and within several men to see the strange thing, War. an hour the road was black with cars as neither boat nor men being heard from Whatever the legend, many individu- the curious came to see for them- afterwards." Possibly the most famous als have witnessed something Oh the selves." Those who made this trek were "rescue attempt" took place around the waters of the Northumberland Strait treated to a full technicolour version of turn of the last century in Charlottetown and, skepticism aside, the accounts the apparition. In the words of one Harbour. Sterling Ramsay has included cannot be lightly dismissed. But what is onlooker, "It was a vessel, outlined with the story in Folklore Prince Edward it? William Francis Ganong (1864- a fiery glow. I wouldn't say it was Island. "Late one evening, approaching 1941), noted New Brunswick scientist actually flames I saw... but the whole dusk, a ship [was] sighted in the harbour and historian, is one of many who has vessel was aglow and it was moving fast. which appeared to be in peril.... Some attempted an explanation. "In its usual I watched it for an hour until it went out distance out in the channel was what form, the light is roughly hemispheri- of sight up the Strait. Two nights later appeared to be a large three masted cal," Ganong wrote in the 1905 Bulletin the whole thing was repeated as the sailing vessel ablaze from bow to stem. of the Natural History Society of New vessel sailed back in the opposite A group of men boarded a small boat Brunswick. "It has its flat side to the direction." and rowed toward the flaming ship, in water and at times it simply glows Frequently there have been accounts hopes of rescuing as many of her crew without much change of form, but at of people attempting to reach the as was possible. While they were still other times it rises into slender moving burning vessel, as in the instance some distance from the craft, it disap- columns, giving rise to an appearance recalled by Walter Shaw at the begin- peared into the mist and appeared to capable of interpretation as the flaming ning of this article. On another occasion vanish completely." Later on a rigging of a ship, its vibrating and the car ferry Prince Nova plying the thorough search, including explorations dancing movements increasing the il- Wood Islands-Caribou route attempted by divers, failed to reveal a trace of the lusion ... its origin is probably electri- to bring aid to a burning ship, only to mysterious ship. cal." Others have suggested that it may have it disappear into thin air when Over the years numerous stories have be a manifestation of St Elmo's fire — approached at close range. Sometimes evolved to justify the "return" of a the glow that accompanies charges of

34 over as hallucinations or the result of overheated imaginations. In fact, the phenomenon may well predate the arrival of the white race to these shores, since Micmac folklore contains refer- ences to mysterious fire balls. It is not outside the realm of possibility to assume a connection with the "burning ship" and the mysterious "sea guns" of the Northumberland Strait. In the final analysis, the physical world we perceive with our senses may not be the sum total of our environment. The next time you drive along the winding highways which skirt the Strait, glance out over the dark waters, for you too may experience a ghostly encounter of the Northumberland kind.

atmospheric electricity. Many accounts cle."* Sources mention a foggy or misty night, provok- From time to time reports of the Much of the material incorporated in ing the suggestion that the phantom phantom ship have been accompanied this article is based upon interviews with may be simply a bank of fog reflecting by other inexplicable occurrences. Most people who have seen the phantom moonlight. A resident of Canoe Cove important of these are the mysterious ship; however, this has been who has witnessed the phenomenon "booms" or "sea guns" noted over the supplemented by newspaper accounts and as a fisherman is thoroughly familiar years and as recently as December, and printed reminiscences. The writer with the Strait, has suggested to the 1977. These, too, have eluded scientific would appreciate hearing from readers writer that the phantom is a special kind explanation. Sometimes the booms are of The Island Magazine who have of mirage. People who live along the accompanied by what appears to be a experienced such a "personal en- Northumberland coast of Prince Ed- ball of fire in the evening sky. Since the counter." These may be sent to me in ward Island are well aware that on 1977 cases were reported from widely care of the Heritage Foundation, P. 0. certain days (depending upon atmos- separated locations along the Atlantic Box 922, Charlottetown, Prince Edward pheric conditions) the shore line of seaboard of North America, they at- Island. The most important secondary Nova Scotia appears to be very close — tracted the attention of both the Ameri- sources on the topic are as follows: so much so that landmarks are clearly can Centre for Shortlived Phenomena discernible and a distant cottage may and the United States Geological Sur- Edward D. Ives, "The Burning Ship resemble a tall building half up in the air, vey, but neither group could offer a of Northumberland Strait," Midwest half down in the sea. On other days, all positive explanation. Some of the recent Folklore, VIII, pp. 199 to 203; that is visible is a faint line on the occurrences may be sonic in origin; horizon. This is the legendary fata however, the booms were heard long Sterling Ramsay, Folklore Prince Ed- morgana, first noted in the Mediterra- before the advent of aircraft. The ward Island (Charlottetown, n.d.); nean, but common to many other parts mysterious ball of fire accompanying the of the world, including the Northumber- "sea guns" may well have a link with Walter Shaw, Tell Me The Tales land Strait Since the same atmospheric the burning ship. Such a ball of fire has (Charlottetown, 1975); conditions may prevail at night, it is frequently been noted over the Tan- plausible to believe that lights on either tramar Marshes and has usually been Roland H. Sherwood, The Phantom side of the Strait may be transformed by diagnosed as ignited marsh gas. Ship of the Northumberland Strait optical illusion so that the observer sees Ridicule is often close to the surface (Windsor, 1975). what he believes to be a brigantine in when people consider the accounts of full flame. Ignited gas from submarine those who have witnessed the "ball of coal beds and even the lowly squid have fire," the "burning ship," or heard the been ascribed responsibility for the mysterious "sea guns." However, there ghost ship. In the latter case, it is is today a greater open-mindedness suggested that the blackish-brown about the unexplained, even amongst phosphorescent "ink" emitted by the the scientific fraternity. The number of squid when frightened or under attack incidents are remarkable in their consis- may through "the action of the wind tency and have gone on for such a span concentrate and when the vapour from of years that they cannot be glossed the discharge reaches the surface [it] sets off a mild effect of static electricity which accounts for the intense anima- *Preston Taylor, "Nothing Phony About Phantom Ships"; Halifax Chronicle-Herald, August 3, tion present in the scintillating specta- 1957. 35