Ghost on Deck: Dr. Master's Ghost Stories, #3

By Thomas Trimble

A Revolutionary War Frigate is damaged in battle and her Captain is killed. While limping back to America a mystic power takes over control and runs the ship aground, where it effectively dies. Over 260 years later a rich shipping magnate totally rebuilds the ship. When the restored ship is floated a spiritual force is revived with her. Now the new ship is experiencing haunted attacks. Dr. Paul Masters from Paranormal Pursuits is called to help free this beautiful ship from the ghost's grasp. Who is the ghost and will the Doctor succeed?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Thomas Trimble
• Release date: May 9, 2021
• ISBN: 9798201281953

Book preview

Prologue

This book is a continuation of the Ghost investigations by Dr. Paul Masters, Ph.D. a Paranormal Phycologist. The doctor is an expert in the studies of ghosts and witches. He has been a main character in my books COVEN House and Ghost of Trimble’s Ford.

The existence of this ship and its story is also part of the fiction of the book.

The Storm

Ships Log –

USS Tradewinds– 12 June 1780

Acting Captain, Lt. Charles S. Buck, reporting

Location: Sailing for Nantasket, Massachusetts

Ship has engaged the British Letter of Marque[1] Sea Witch, a 32-gun frigate. Both ships severely damaged and sailing for America. Our Captain Johnathan Bowen was killed by falling rigging near the bow of the ship. We have also lost eight sailors in the action. We have taken some hull damage but the pumps are able to keep up with the leaks. Much of the rigging of the Foremast has been destroyed. We are not able to make much speed but we are moving along. Weather appears to be closing in, storms are coming.

This is the last entry from a logbook that has been preserved and stored in a Revolutionary War archive since 1780. Apparently, just after this entry was written, the ship was struck by a major gale. Due to problems with the rigging, they were not able to furl or lower the mainsails. The high winds took the ship further north at very high speed. They were quickly approaching the rocky shore. Not at their planned destination but further north at a peninsula called Plum Island.

As the ship was rapidly heading for the shore, the Helmsman started screaming, Captain, I have lost my steering control on the ship. Something has taken over controlling us. We are heading for the rocks! The ship crashed hard into the rocks, severely damaging the hull and causing her to take on water. The next day the damage was inspected. The decision was made to abandon the ship, strip it of anything useful, and leave it where it crashed, having no way to recover it in that period of history.

Interviews of the crew members by representatives of the controlling Agent of Marine, recorded the Helmsman’s report that this was not caused by a failure in the steering gear, but some form of a mystical takeover of the control. He stated he had been in gales before and knew what the wheel would feel like even with all those forces. He explained, This was something different. The wheel was not only pulled out of my hands but continued to turn several turns toward shore. seeming to intentionally ground the ship.

The investigators believed that this was a fantasy in the mind of the Helmsman. The ship was ordered to be abandoned and sold.

A Rich Hobby

Early on a fog-bound morning, a Full-Rigged design Tall ship sits floating quietly in a recently flooded dry dock near the Merrimack River in Amesbury, MA. The rising sun reveals the fog as it swirls and drifts along the dock area. You can hear the footsteps echo as a well-dressed man walks along the water’s edge looking at his pride and joy. As he walks, he can begin to see the long bowsprit of this Frigate, piercing the fog like a long thin fencing foil ready to attack. As the fog drifts, the top of the fog bank is stabbed by the three tall masts pointing skyward. The ship creates a totally mysterious sight in this remote location.

This particular shipyard has been involved in building wooden sailing vessels of war since the time of the Revolutionary War. The yard was recently sold to a private investor for his single project. This ship is a couple months from the completion of a major renovation and restoration. A strange history follows her.

The man walking along the dock is tall and thin having the look of a well-to-do yachtsman wearing a kind of private navy-looking whites. He is a man in his early sixties. However, this ship at 182 feet long and heavily armed is far more than a yacht. The man checking on his ship is Mr. Cornell Woodruff. He owns Woodruff Shipping a major transport provider for various types of import/export trade. This company has made Woodruff extremely wealthy to the point where the company now owns some twenty-six major cargo container ships. Each ship big enough to hold over a thousand forty-foot-long containers, stacked above and below their decks. Those ships are constantly crossing the ocean with trade goods either going to or coming from Europe or Asia. His substantial fees for that transit have continued to keep him at the pinnacle of wealth.

Woodruff is a fan of the history of the Revolutionary War. Particularly, the history of ships involved in the war. This particular ship called the USS Tradewinds was laid down in April 1776.

The ships specifications were Tons burthen: 1,982 long tons (2,014 t), Length: 182 ft 6 in (55.63 m), Beam: 50 ft 6 in (15.39 m), Complement: 626, Armament: 30 long 18-pounder guns, 32 long 12-pounders, 14 long 9-pounders. A major warship by the definition of the time.

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Tradewinds was laid down in a shipyard in Chatham, Connecticut. Progress on her construction was delayed by a scarcity of funds, shortage of craftsmen, and of well-seasoned timber. The project dragged on for an extra four months beyond the original schedule. The ship was eventually launched on 5 Nov