To start things off, an account by a writer on the paranormal, Charles Sampson, on a personal experience.

In July 1929, Sampson and several friends were on a fishing trip on Breydon Water, Norfolk. It was a warm, clear night, when they suddenly became aware of an approaching noise. The sound was of several thousand voices cheering and shouting. And the night, although dark and clear, was lit by a strange phosphorescence.

The noise increased, and then they saw the incredible spectacle of scores of large, luminescent sailing ships crowded with sailors. Sampson and his friends described the ships as holding thousands of men, who were shouting and singing, and generally of high spirits. All the ships carried bright lanterns, and the sails bore emblems of the sun.

The ghostly fleet continued on it's way up the Waveney river, in the direction of Burgh castle, and as the last ship passed from view, the luminescence died down, and all was darkness again.

Sampson felt that the ships were fifth or sixth century, and Teutonic in nature. Apparently, around AD 450, two Saxon Chieftans actually arrived in that part of the country.


I have a few more accounts, but I'm very interested in the story of The Goblin, a black-sailed vessel spotted in Cornwall, that has been seen heading onto land!

Hi Cuffy, I don't have any info about " The Goblin". Do you however, have any details on a ghost ship in the Northwest Passage? I don't have any further info on it.

Hi Cuffy, I've racked my brain & the only thing that I can recall is that a ship with no sign of the crew/ passengers, apparently led another ship through the NW Passage.


Dot9M

Oooooh strange story Cuffy, at least all the ghosties were in a good mood apparently lol.

Are you going to give us more info on " The Goblin "?, I've not heard that one before


PLEEEEEEEEEEEZE

Another strange story;

Ghost Ship Sighted and Filmed

Edward, son of Britain's monarch, believes he has seen a ghost ship.

The 34-year-old told yesterday [Oct 16] how he spotted the phantom galleon while filming the second of his Crown and Country TV series on the Isle of Wight. Edward was telling the story of HMS Eurydice, a 26-gun frigate which capsized and sank in Sandown Bay during a blizzard in 1878.

He said: "We were talking about a ghost ship on the Isle of Wight and how we could illustrate this three-masted schooner that just disappears. Suddenly someone said 'Look, there's one now,' and sure enough out to sea there was a three-masted schooner. It was not arranged by us. It simply appeared.

"Someone said 'We'll wait until it gets a little closer to the shoreline' and then come the moment, someone else said 'Where's it gone? ' We looked and it had disappeared."

The prince added: "I am quite convinced as far as ghosts are concerned that there are too many stories, coincidences, occurrences and strange happenings. There is something definitely out there, but what it is I don't really know.

"I cannot believe it is just some people's imagination. There is more in it than that. I have never met a ghost, but I have always wanted to meet a ghost. There is only one way to find out whether they really do exist."

Edward's film crew captured the ghost ship on video after the sighting last May. And in another strange twist, the tape jammed in the machine when they went to view it. The programme's director, Robin Bextor, said last night: "Edward was doing a piece to camera near Chine, on the Isle of Wight, when someone spotted this ship.

"We filmed it for a while, then decided to wait so we would catch it sailing off into the horizon. We assumed it was a training vessel. Like the rest of us, Edward was pleased at our stroke of luck at seeing it because it saved us time and money getting footage of something similar. We were packing up the cameras and took our eyes off it for a few minutes, but when we went to film it again, it had gone."

Edward spoke of the sighting during a briefing in Portsmouth yesterday about the new ITV series. The ghost ship will be seen in the October 27 programme.

The sinking of the Eurydice, with the loss of more than 300 lives, was seen by the young Winston Churchill, who was visiting the Isle of Wight with his nurse. They watched from a clifftop as the ship capsized. There have been several other sightings of a three-masted vessel off the Isle of Wight where many ships have gone down. Retired teacher Robin Ford, 57, from Ventnor, spotted the eerie form of a galleon during a beach barbecue with friends. He said: "It moved slowly towards the shore, then it just seemed to up-end and slipped silently out of view."

Last night, sailing ship enthusiasts added to the mystery by saying they knew of no vessel in the area at the time Edward saw the ghost ship.

Hilary Painter, of the Sail Training Association at Portsmouth, said: "We have two training ships that sound like that, but on that particular week they were both away."

Becky Lacey, of the Jubilee Sailing Trust at Southampton said: "We have a three-masted square rigger called the Lord Nelson, but she was in Newcastle that week."

Barbara Hoyle, of the Sea Cadet Corps at Gosport, added: "We have the Royalist, which is a two-masted square rig brig, but she was not at sea that week."



(Source: The Mirror - Oct 17 1998)

Bleeding Heart, I hadn't heard of that. I know that one of the royals (can't remember which), saw what was assumed to be the flying Dutchman, in the late 19th/early 20th century, but this one was a big surprise.

But the film jammed?!!! Considering that Prince Edward is a shameless self-publicist for his own TV company, as well, that makes me suspicious. But that is so frustrating. Imagine if he did see the ghostly reappearance of the Eurydice, and caught it on film. So close, and yet...


Thistle, I wish I knew more about The Goblin, but all I know is that it's black (not black-sailed, as I mistakenly said earlier), with square sails, and has been seen many times by the residents of Porthcurno Cove, near St Leven, Cornwall. The ship is seen heading for shore, then glides for some distance over dry land before vanishing.

IronBridge, in Shropshire, takes it's name from the first bridge constructed of cast iron, which spans the River Severn.

The bridge has it's own ghostly ship, and a very macabre one, at that. The vessel appears silently, shrouded in mist. It resembles a boat known as a Severn trow, a kind of wooden barge fitted with a sail. The ghostly trow glides slowly beneath the bridge, and continues on it's way toward Jackfield, where it has been seen unloading.

Now the unpleasant bit. At the helm of the ship stands a tall figure, with it's features covered by a hood. Upon the deck lies a sinister cargo. Bodies.

Many bodies were moved this way, during the plagues of the 15th and 16th century, in an attempt to stop the spread of the disease.

Avast behind!

"At 4am the Flying Dutchman crossed our bows. She emitted a strange phosphorescent light as of a phantom ship all aglow, in the midst of which light the masts, spars and sails of a brig 200 yards distant stood out in strong relief as she came up on the port bow, where the officer of the watch saw her, as did the quarter-deck midshipman, who was sent forward at once to the forecastle, but on arriving no vestige nor any sign whatsoever of any material ship was to be seen either near or right away to the horizon, the night being clear and the sea calm."

This record, and its very long sentence, was made by 16-year old Prince George, later King George V, while serving on HMS Inconstant in 1881.

Thanks, Agent.

Now...the small matter of The Goblin, in Cornwall...

I presume this refers to the ghost ship of St Levans which proceeds across land for a mile or so, according to legend. I never realised it was called the 'Goblin'.

A black ship is said to haunt a quiet bay near Porthcurno, Cornwall. Emerging from evening mists, the sinister four-masted vessel would approach the beach, continue across it and sail steadily on as though still sea-bourne on to St Levans where it would vanish.

Occasionally a smaller boat would follow in its wake. No sign of crew were discernible on either boat.

The associated legend concerns a stranger to the district who arrived to settle there along with a manservant. Both men were remote and silent and often wandered the locality with an unseen pack of dogs, judging from the sounds that accompanied them.

From time to time they would set sail in a boat they kept moored in the bay. It was always a wild windy night when they did so. But before too long the stranger died and was buried in the local churchyard. Several of the more hardy locals attended, as did the manservant. However, when the first clod of earth was dropped on the coffin the sound of baying hounds arose and the servant vanished, never to be seen again.

How mysterious! I wonder what the pair were up to on their little sea trips? Smuggling; or something more devillish?

Yay!! Thanks, Agent. I was hoping you might know about this one.

Damn mysterious, isn't it? Why does the ship continue on across the land? Does it head in the direction of the churchyard? Maybe that's where it's going. Imagine taking a stroll, and seeing that thing heading toward you!

Oooh thanks A21 (and of course you too cuffy for mentioning it in the first place)

Tis a very strange tale indeed......we'll be having ghostly Nissan Micras floating up the Thames next

Oh mothballs!!! Don't mention mothballs.

There's also the 'Lady Lovibond', from the Goodwin Sands, where another ghost ship haunts, and a couple off the coast of the Isle of Wight.

toward the end of WWII , Admiral Karl Doenitz, Hitler's commander in chief of submarines, reported:"Certain of my U-boat crews claim they saw the Flying Dutchman or some other phantom ship on their tours of duty east of Suez. When they returned to base the men said they perfered facing the combined strenght of Allied warships in the North Atlantic rather than know the terror a second time of being confronted by a phantom vessel."