Ghost Ship of Northumberland Strait

Map of the Northumberland Strait.

The Ghost Ship of Northumberland Strait is a ghost ship that has been reported as sailing ablaze within the Northumberland Strait, the body of water that separates Prince Edward Island from Nova Scotia and New Brunswick in eastern Canada. Numerous sightings of the ship have been reported for over 220 years.

Origins

The Ghost Ship of Northumberland Strait is described as a beautiful schooner that has three masts (sometimes four masts, as reports vary) with pure white sails, all of which become completely engulfed in flames as onlookers watch.^[1] Sightings have occurred throughout the seasons, but seem to be more prevalent from September to November.^[2] These visions are also apparent before a northeast wind, and folklore has it that this brilliant ghost ship is a forewarning of a storm.^[2] There never seems to be a predetermined place for where the ship will appear; sightings tend to happen when least expected.^[1]

Sometimes upon seeing the burning ship, mariners have attempted to rescue the crew aboard. One of the more famous rescue attempts took place in Charlottetown Harbour about 1900. A group of sailors boarded a small rowboat and raced toward the flaming ship to rescue the troubled crew. During their struggle to reach the distressed vessel, the phantom ship completely vanished. A thorough search was immediately carried out by divers, but no shipwreck was found.^[2]

Location

The Northumberland Strait is the body of water that separates Prince Edward Island from New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. It is said to have very turbulent waters, which tend to be difficult on the many ships that sail through it.^[3] The length of the strait is approximately 130 miles, while the width is roughly 8 to 30 miles.^[1]

Sightings

The first sighting of the Ghost Ship of Northumberland Strait dates back to 1786; however, there are few details of these accounts.^[1] Eyewitness accounts of the ship come from either side of the strait, and are often very similar in description.^[2] Understandably, many are skeptical of the recollections of the burning ship. However, occasionally a large number of people have witnessed the ship's appearance at the same time.^[2] Here are a few examples of first-hand descriptions of the ghost ship:

• “I could make out the outline of the ship quite distinctly. I watched it for about twenty minutes and then it disappeared. I had heard so much about the phantom ship that I decided this must be it. My sister, who was visiting friends nearby, said she saw the same thing on the same night."^[2]
• “As it came nearer it seemed to lose speed, and as it came opposite our house it stopped still. I said to Fred, “Perhaps they are coming ashore.” We got up on the banks to watch. There was no sign of anyone on board and no dory on tow. I can’t remember just how long it was, but I think about ten minutes after she stopped I seen smoke rising very slow all over the deck. Then it was only a few minutes I seen men that seemed to come up from below and they were running around the deck every way. Then as they were running around I seen a low flame all over the deck. When the flames started the men climbed up the masts of the vessel. When they was about halfway up the masts the sails caught. All the sails seemed to catch at the same time. I could not see the men any more as the flames hid my view. We watched it until the flames died and everything crumbled to the deck. There was nothing left but the hull on the water, and gradually it seemed to sink lower and finally disappeared as if it gradually filled with water and sunk.”^[3]

The most recent sighting of this ghost ship was by 17-year-old Mathieu Giguere, who noticed the “bright white and gold ship” in mid-January 2008.^[4] Sightings vary in description, but there are sometimes reports of other bizarre occurrences during the sightings of the ghost ship.^[2] In other accounts, gun fire can be heard and sometimes an apparent ball of fire can be seen in the sky.^[2]

Scientific explanations

A number of scientific possibilities have been proposed to explain the Northumberland ghost ship sightings. A New Brunswick scientist William Francis Ganong proposed in 1905 that the nature of the light described in sightings suggested a natural electrical phenomena: "It has its flat side to the water and at times it simply glows without much change of form, but at other times it rises into slender moving columns, giving rise to an appearance capable of interpretation as the flaming rigging of a ship, its vibrating and dancing movements increasing the illusion ... its origin is probably electrical."^[2] A separate explanation suggests that this ship is merely a bank of fog reflecting moonlight.^[2] Another justification for the apparent fire ship is seen in a video of a crescent moon setting below the horizon which can be found on YouTube.^[5]

Music and popular culture

The ghost ship has become more widely known in recent years in part due to a popular song by Lennie Gallant, a Canadian singer-songwriter from Rustico, Prince Edward Island.^[6] It debuted in his 1988 album, Breakwater, and is called "Tales of the Phantom Ship".^[6] This song alludes to the folklore of this legendary ship: "There's a burst of flame and a flash of light/And there on the tide is a frightening sight/As a tall ship all aflame lights up the sky/Tales of the phantom ship, from truck to keel in flames/She sails the wide Northumberland Strait/No one knows her name."^[6]

In June 2014, Canada Post issued a special stamp depicting the Northumberland Strait ghost ship. The stamp was issued on Friday the 13th as part of a series of Canadian ghost story stamps.^[7]

Notes