Onboard SS ERIN 20000 98NOV17:
Then Tom Junior said "I see it too!"...
Tom Dodge immediately stared at Junior and asked "Are you sure?"
"YES,SIR!"
Tom Dodge quickly turned and looked at where the Tuner sisters had pointed. He saw nothing. he turned again towards Junior. Staring at his son, he ordered "Describe what you are seeing!"
"A two mast Brigantine, at least 100 tons. I can see six cannons on the starboard side. Ports are open. Short barreled - probably carronades. Sails are not furled. Flying a Jolly Rodger Skull & Bones with a large white spider below. No sign of crew. One ship's boat being towed. Traveling at the same speed as the ERIN."
Taking Crissie's hand, Tom Dodge said quietly, "Stay with me, Crissie." Then he ordered Junior "Fetch the Captain, NOW!"
Junior quickly moved to follow his father's order. As soon as Junior left, Tom Asked the Turner sisters "Please keep looking at the ship. Tell me if you see anything new, especially, crew" while he waited. Tom alternated between looking at the two girls and staring out to sea where there was no ship.
Junior returned in a few minutes along with the Captain and the Second Mate.
"What can I do for you Mr. Dodge?"
"Last night the Turner sisters saw a Pirate ship outlined by the moon. The Second Mate and I were present. We saw nothing. Today, Elizabeth, Crissie, my son Tom, junior and I toured the deck several times during the day without seeing any ships. Just now, they can see a Brigantine carrying Pirate Colors in the moonlight. My son can also see the ship. He hasn't had anything to drink and can describe the ship in great detail. Now, I like to tell my son Ghost Stories, but I don't believe in Ghost Stories and I certainly don't want to be in one."
{{Chapter 2 You Tube video:
"Junior, tell the Captain what you see out there."
"YES SIR! I see a two masted ship outfitted like a brigantine. Full sails, six cannons starboard side with ports open. The cannons are short barreled - probably carronades. I see no sign of a crew onboard. There is a ship's boat being towed behind the ship, which is keeping station with the ERIN. The ship is flying pirate colors - Jolly Rodger Skull & Bones with a large white spider below. I estimate the ship is at least 100 tons, SIR!"
While Junior was giving his report, Tom was carefully observing the Captain's reaction. The Second Mate did nothing. When Junior finished his report, the Captain smiled and responded "That's a fine report, son. Very detailed - you would make a fine sailor."
Tom Junior stood at attention as if he was a sailor standing before his skipper and said, "Thank you, Sir."
The Captain then turned and scanned the horizon seeing nothing. He then turned to face the girls and asked them if they saw the same thing as Mr. Dodge's son. Eliza replied, " I see a sailing ship with two masts. I count six cannon but I don't see any people. There is a little boat following the ship. The flag is definitely a pirate flag - I've seen that in a picture in a book I read. I think it was called Treasure Island."
Crissie chimed in "that's RIGHT!"
"Thank you girls." The Captain returned. The Captain looked at Mr. Dodge and the Second Mate asked "you two see nothing?" Both men replied "Yes Sir."
Tom Dodge and the Captain turned to the sea watching. After a few moments, Tom Dodge had a thought. Instead of looking for a ship, he concentrated on the sea looking for the wake of a ship. By sheer chance, Elizabeth felt a chill, placed her arms around Tom Dodge and hugged him. At that instance, Tom Dodge noticed a change in the sea as if the wake of a ship suddenly appeared. When Eliza relaxed and let go of Tom Dodge, the impression that there was a wake of a ship on the sea disappeared. Tom was startled. He immediately realized that something unusual had occurred.
Testing what he had just experienced, Tom placed his arms around the willing Elizabeth and held her close. The faint image (more a sense that there was a wake) returned.
Deciding to try another test, he released Elizabeth and moved to Crissie and whispered into her ear. Crissie then walked over to the Captain, placed her arms around him and hugged the older man. The Captain reciprocated by placing an arm over her shoulder allowing her to embrace him closer. While the Captain was thinking she's just a frightened little girl who wants to be reassured, Mr. Dodge had other thoughts. He quickly asked the Captain to scan the sea for the wake of a ship. The Captain complied without thinking as he was enjoying young Crissie's embrace. As he briefly saw the wake, the Captain failed to notice that the impression had faded when Crissie relaxed her grip and moved away from the Captain.
The Captain looked at Mr. Dodge. Their eyes met and both men stared at each other for an instance. Nothing was said but much was communicated.
The Captain turned to the Second Mate and ordered him to have a crewman armed with a sidearm stationed here until dawn. The Second Mate stood at attention, saluted the Captain and said "YES, SIR! I will station a man here immediately." The Captain returned his salute. The Second Mate did an about face as if he was in the Navy and walked away smartly. The Captain then turned to face the girls and asked gent, "Will that be acceptable?" Both girls quickly nodded. The Captain then said "it's late. Mr. Dodge, would you and your son please escort these two young women to their cabin?"
"Of course, Captain" Mr. Dodge replied. Before the Captain turned to return to his cabin, Mr. Dodge (with another problem on his mind) said "Captain I have something to say."
The Captain stopped and replied "Yes?"
Tom Dodge (with his mind on the business at hand) looked the Captain in the eye and said "I thought I saw the wake of a ship. Maybe there is a ghost ship out there. " Tom noted that the Captain appeared to be concerned. When Tom continued and said "It must be a ghost ship, no one puts guns on a sailing ship in the Twentieth Century!" Tom Dodge noted that the Captain's face paled. It was the night of the full moon. Both men stood close aboard and could clearly see each other's faces.
The Captain responded "Good night Mr. Dodge", turned around and walked away. The Captain did not notice that his response was a nervous reply. Tom Dodge did notice. As the Captain walked away, Tom Dodge thought "I got you BASTARD!"
Tom then thought maybe I have another problem. He looked at his son and said " Son, come here and give your old man a hug." Tom Junior froze for an instance then said "Dad, I'm a man! Men don't hug other men - it's not manly!" Mr Dodge (with a smirk) responded "French men do." Junior shot back "We're not French!"
Sensing defeat, Mr. Dodge sighed and replied "That's alright son, I understand."
The girls listened to the exchange between father and son and felt it was so cute! They didn't say anything but both smiled.
Tom Dodge turned to the girls and gallantly asked "Shall we retire for the night? Elizabeth Turner offered her hand to Mr. Dodge and Crissie offered her hand to his son. Both girls sighed and thought "This is so romantic,"
Comments
Darn. Still the wacky layout
Darn. Still the wacky layout !
My mind must not work the same as the others, I see no new clues except the pirate ship only appears in the moonlight. Tom Jr now sees it, how has he changed?
You are driving me nuts, I hate a mystery with clues invisible to me. This is like dangling a Coach bag just out of my reach.
Karen
Can't help but feel
I'm in the middle of a Tintin adventure, it's just that Tintin and Snowy and Captin Haddock are missing!!
OK, Tom Jr...
...knows about sailing ships and can describe them in detail. (And he went first on the description, which eliminates my conjecture last time that he was lying about seeing it in order to support the sisters.)
The captain can't see it either, which preserves the male-female divide on this if the small-framed Tom Jr turns out to be a disguised young woman. (Somebody ought to drag Sra. Peacock or Srta. Scarlett up on deck to see if the trend holds up.)
We do have one new factor: the "pirate" ship's boat is attached and trailing the vessel, matching the Erin's speed and course. I have the feeling the boat may be real (operated by someone from the Erin) even if the ship isn't. It could turn the pirate ship illusion on and off somehow and would explain why it's only seen at certain times, though it wouldn't explain why only some could see it. (Just thought of color-blindness, but can't make that work...)
Eric
Could be an age thing
I don't remember if the approximate age of the sisters and junior where told or not.
But may be only non-adult can see the ghost ship before it's too late.
We will need to wait and see what will happen...
Scared hugs tmf
Re: "Could be an age thing"
The age of the characters has not been mentioned in any chapter. In a description of the Turner sisters, I clearly indicated that Crissie is a younger sister. Both are old enough to be given access to liqueur on the SS ERIN in 1917. The description of the sisters implied that this is the first time that they have travelled without supervision. In one chapter, the Turner sisters were pleased to be treated as adults.
The age of Tom Junior is "nebulous". He is short in stature and has a youthful appearance. He is believed to be the son of Tom Dodge (although some of the readers of this story suspect that Tom Junior is not Tom Dodge's son and may be in fact be a WOMAN pretending to be a male!).
There is a scene in the missing parts of this chapter [Erin ("BC Erin" is working on the problem - if the problem is not solved, I will add the missing parts to the next chapter]
As I was saying, there is a scene in the missing parts of this chapter where Junior refuses to hug his father - this is very suspicious...).
Re: "OK Tom Jr..."
So you want to drag Señora Escarta and Señora Pavo Real out on deck to look for pirates!!!
You must be crazy enough to get in the moving car!
Chapter Length
If the chapter has 559 words and ends with "That's right!" You are looking at a partial chapter.
If the chapter has over 1,200 words and ends with "That is so romantic." Then you are looking at the complete chapter.
"That's right!"
Ok, short then.
"Reach for the sun."
Reloaded Three Times...
...using command-shift-reload arrow icon as Erin directed (in a different context) a couple of days ago, but I'm still getting the "That's right!" version.
Eric
(Had an image as I was falling asleep today of someone on the "pirate ship's" trailing boat plugging the towline into a generator and lighting up the illusory ship like a neon sign.)
Mary Celeste # 8 missing text is now avail. Please reread!
Due to sucessful assistance of most honorable Host Erin, missing text of humble story is now available. On behalf of Number One Son, I humbly bow to most honorable host. I promise at end of story SS ERIN will be afloat and in good condition. Regrettably same promise cannot be made for unfortunate passengers and crew.
Can't See Where Tom Jr's Non-Hug...
...means anything, since whatever his relationship -- business or personal -- to Tom Sr and his true gender might be, he's behaving in character -- as he has to, with the women watching -- and most likely doesn't believe that a son his (apparent) age would hug his father.
If Junior's a woman, Tom Sr already knows it and doesn't need a test. If he's a man, I guess it makes more sense: embracing a man who sees it might be more successful than his hugging the women was. And I guess if Junior's really a relative (of either sex), there might be a connection between them that would make his seeing it more likely.
I guess we have to go back to entertaining the possibility that Tom Jr was lying about seeing it, but if so he knew enough about what it was supposed to look like that the girls would support his view. He could bank on their naiveté or his power of suggestion that they wouldn't disagree on minor points, but if the number of masts or location of the ship were wrong, there would have been trouble.
(Other than Tom Jr, the author has told us who has seen it and who hasn't, so we can eliminate any of the others lying about it. Because the simplest solution would be that the girls didn't see anything either but were coached as to what to say.)
I suppose it's possible that Tom Sr is behind the whole thing (since his Marie Celeste story seems to have been the initial catalyst), there's a small cadre of "spooks" hiding in the cargo hold (in cases supposed to hold cabbages), and he's counting on fear to frighten the captain and key members of the crew into surrendering. (Fear. Fear and surprise. Fear, surprise and -- well, never mind...) But if so, why is Dodge so concerned about personally seeing the (alleged) apparition?
There's a serious possibility, judging from the captain's earlier reaction, that he's worried about being watched and possibly boarded by someone. If he's carrying contraband from the U.S. or is part of a plot (with Lorenz and some of the crew) to threaten the Canal Zone as (Wikipedia says) the enemy agent in the film clip turned out to be, then the captain may be concerned about being boarded before he gets there. But would the feds really create something that elaborate instead of simply boarding them (with military troops if needed) when they got to Panama?
Re the pirate vessel, I'm reminded of Harry Houdini, who made a live elephant disappear on stage at about this time. But I vaguely recall reading that one had to do with shutters or blinds: only half were re-opened after they all were closed with the elephant on stage. The ones that "opened" actually brought up another position which simulated a bare stage. (Since the ones in between remained shut, they didn't have to line up perfectly.) There doesn't seem to be an analogue here, but Dodge, when in contact with the women, being able to see the wake but not the ship seems sort of parallel. (David Copperfield on national television making the Statue of Liberty and Liberty Island disappear, from his and his equipment's vantage point, comes closer, but if he did it without gimmicking the camera and radar machine, I don't know how.)
Unlike just about everything else here, a wake would seem to indicate a (non-ghost) ship in front of it; at least, I'm guessing that a ship's boat couldn't create anything significant enough to be mistaken for the wake of a full-sized two-masted vessel.
Eric
I idly wondered whether the full moon is fake, with a directional beam that unknown to Dodge and company leaves some areas dark when viewed from certain angles. I don't think that would be beyond 1917 technology, assuming their moon was rigid on a wire extended upward from the Erin or the ship's boat. (The actual full moon in November 1917 came three weeks later.) IIRC, in the 1960 musical "The Fantasticks", after it turns out that the tryst between the Romeo-Juliet types with ostensibly feuding parents was actually arranged by those two sets of parents, the guy they hired to set it up comes back and takes down the moon. (Easier to do onstage.) But it's hard to believe that nobody here would notice, especially if a crescent turned up in the sky at other times. And if there's a sailor coming up to scan the (empty) sea next to the ship for the rest of the night, he'd have to be awfully dense if the moon stayed in one place for the duration.
Hey, once you've eliminated the impossible, you start evaluating the improbables, or however Holmes put it.
I think Holmes also said,
I think Holmes also said, "Watson, the game is afoot"
Second Sight, Spiders mascaraing as cabbages. machine tools that are arms. Wonderbar !
Karen
Re: "Can't see where Tom Jr's Non-Hug..."
Good catch Eric! You earned a KUDO for conducting proper research! Quite frankly, I hadn't thought of checking for the actual date of the full moon in early November, 1917. And it never occurred to me that the one or more of readers would actually check on the actual date of the full moon.
However, if I had checked the date of the full moon, most likely I would still have set the night of the full moon on November 7/8. This is commonly referred to as "Dramatic license" or in this case, more accurately "historical license".
I needed the moon to be bright during this time so I could seamlessly use the You Tube video from Pirates of the Carribean (twice) and more importantly reinforce the impression of a supernatural reason for an invisible ship and spider-pirates a man cannot see. Eric is trying to find a technological reason for an invisible pirate ship. Apparently, Eric doesn't believe in ghosts either. One of the characters in this story is an "Indiana Jones" type character. I needed this type of character for my story. In a later chapter he will tell the legend of the "Spider Kings". The telling of this legend will allow the readers to come up with an explanation for an invisible ship and Pirates a man cannot see. The fact that "Indy" was a professor was an added bonus. Professor Ciruela fits perfectly into the "Clue Theme".
In this story, there are other "historical inaccuracies". The SS ERIN, the passengers and crew are all fictional. In the Pacific Ocean prior to the beginning of this story "certain historical events" (that will not be included in this story, but greatly affect this story) have been changed. This is another instance of "historical or dramatic license".
In regards to Junior's refusal to hug his father, at the time it happened Tom Dodge was experimenting to determine why some could see the Pirate Ship, some could see the Wake of the ship and some couldn't see anything. Tom's thought that he may have another problem could be interpreted two ways. The gender of his son may be suspect or that sex may not be the determining factor (another reader (tmf) theorized that age may be the critical factor).
Thank You...
I was pretty sure -- at least until recently -- that you hadn't intended the moon to be out of phase, but in effect you're asking us to question everything if we want to figure this out. And when I discovered it was absurdly easy to find in a Google search -- type in "full moon November 1917" and you get a whole calendar of illustrated phases (with percentages) by date for a seemingly random month 99 years ago -- I thought just maybe there was something there. But I deliberately moved it after my name in the comment into "afterthought" or PS position, since it was difficult for even me to take seriously.
Eric
The layout is back to normal.
The layout is back to normal.
It's as I though, The girls have the ability to "see dead people", and contact with them allows others to 'see' also.
Tom struck a nerve with the German Captain about arming sailing ships. The infamous commerce raiders of WW1
Karen
Karen wins a Kudo!
Karen is right on about WWI (actually, prior to WWII, it would be more appropriate to use "The Great War") Commerce Raiders. In this chapter, both the Captain and Tom Dodge exhibited strong reactions to sailing ships being armed with guns!
Tom Dodge likes to tell "Sea Stories"
In my descriptions of Tom Dodge, I indicated that he likes to tell sea stories to his son. The story of the Mary Celeste was one of them (the only one specifically mentioned in the story...).
If you read the beginning of Chapter 1,
The cargo of the Mary Celeste was 1,701 barrels of denatured alcohol.
The cargo of the SS ERIN "included" 1,701 barrels of denatured alcohol.
The cargo of the SS ERIN included some items of "food".
The SS ERIN left New York exactly forty-five years to the day after the Mary Celeste.
One might assume that in 1917 the Coast Guard or the U.S. Navy might be interested in the crew and passenger manifest of a tramp steamer heading for Chile during wartime.
One passenger Dr. Lorenz is a German doctor returning to California via Valparaiso, Chile.
One passenger is a Chilean Col. reputed to be unfriendly to the United States.
One passenger is an unsavory archeologist suspected of grave robbing and the theft of artifacts.
In the Story Mary Celeste, the full names of four (4) crewman were mentioned (up to chapter 8). So far, with the exception of the junior steward (his first name is Sam), only four (4) members of the crew have been mentioned by name.
Draw your own conclusions...
I have never felt the need to
I have never felt the need to research the names of people aboard the Mary Celeste, so I'll agree you used their names.
The diversity of passenger's nationality is common aboard European flagged vessels, I notice the Erin is not flying any flag in particular. However, since it docked in New York it can't be German.
Karen
SS ERIN's Flag
If the SS ERIN had been a German Flagged Ship, the ship would have been seized after U.S. Entry into The Great War (WWI). German nationals in the crew would have become prisionors of war at that time. Prior to U.S. Entry, a German Flagged Merchant ship could freely enter or leave the U.S. A German Warship prior to U.S. Entry into the war could enter a U.S. Port. However, the ship (by international law) had to leave American Waters (Three (3) miles out to sea in 1917) within 72 hours or face internment. A German Cruiser elected internment in Guam. It was seized when the U.S. Entered the war. A German Raider (the former passenger liner Kronprinz Wilhelm) was interned in Virginia in 1915. The U.S. seized it when war was declared.
An individual identified as a German in the story Mary Celeste may not be a "known" German national. There were several million American citizens of German ancestry living in the United States in 1917.
The flag carried by the SS ERIN will not be specified in the story Mary Celeste. However, in Chapter 9, Tom Junior will discover that the German Ambassador has significant control over the SS ERIN.