Five days had passed since Jefferson had arrived in Port Calvin, and being the industrious individual that he was, he had gathered as much information as he could during that time; information about the lost ships, about the roots of the legend, about the alleged ghost ships, the ships that had sunk or disappeared near the port and the circumstances of their disappearance. By bribing some guards he was able to inspect the shipwrecks of the two fishing vessels that had been salvaged. By inquiring from some of the locals who knew the crew of the ship, he had learned some things that would help him solve the mystery of her sinking, although he still needed some more proof.
The friends of the unfortunate crews had told him that one of the ships, Barney, although a good ship, had trouble with her navigation system for some time, and the captain had no intention of replacing the system, saying the equipment worked fine and even if they would stop functioning, he and his crew knew the sea near the port and their usual fishing grounds well enough and there was no need to spend extra money, specially because he and his men were desperate for money since their catch had been low for some time.
Their ship had sunk outside their usual fishing grounds, some place where the ships preferred not to go because of the sharp rocks that protruded from the sea bottom. The area was also feared because of its constant bad weather that had caused damage to fishing ships before. Considering that the accident happened on a foggy night, and that their radar often had trouble functioning, there was no wonder that they had sailed to that dangerous area.
The second ship, a large swordfishing boat named Alpha Dawn, had called in a Mayday, but before the lifeboats and the rescue team could reach it, it had sunk. There was a storm then, but not strong enough to pose any danger to Alpha Dawn. Later inspections suggested the possibility of fire in the engine and explosion, which had forced the crew to abandon the ship, but in that storm none of them had survived. A body had been found a few days later on the shore, which was identified as one of the Alpha Dawn crew members, the cause of death: asphyxia caused by water entering the longs through a cut near the throat, although the wound itself could have been lethal too. It was probably caused by a sharp piece of metal during the accident. So the local story that the corpses of the victims of these accidents vanish, was now obsolete.
Now only remained three other ships, two of them belonged to Pladeo Lines, a multi million dollar ship company. Their insurer was investigating the disappearance of the ships. Jefferson tried to make an appointment with the manager of Pladoe Lines for an interview, but his request was refused, so he had one of his friends get some information from the Pladoe Lines’ insurer for him. The information he received was very interesting; none of the ships had any trouble during their voyage, there were no storms, nor any confluence of powerful weather fronts, nor they had any trouble with the engines. The last message they had received from the ships, was that everything is ok and that they expected to reach Port Calvin pretty soon. But then suddenly the ships had disappeared somewhere about 9 miles from the port.
Air National Rescue helicopters had searched the area and had found nothing, no sign of the wreckage, or fuel on the sea surface, the searches still continued without any convincing results. The Pladoe Lines had recently suffered from serious financial problems and the insurers now suspected a clever insurance fraud on the part of the company owners to collect a significant payment amount that the insurer was obligated to pay the company in case of an accidental loss.
The last ship had disappeared after leaving Port Calvin, heading for the international waters. The ship had disappeared, probably sank, some time between 3 to 4 am . A tanker passing 11 miles away from the missing ship, and also the coast guard had received a radio message from her, in which a panicked voice, probably a crew member, desperately asked for help, before the message was abruptly ended. The searches for this ship still continued, and the related official bodies hoped to find a trace of the ship soon. This was the only mysterious accident among theses tragedies.
Thus in a matter of a week, Jefferson had gathered everything he needed to complete his story, which was then published by the news papers and magazines, followed by praise from both the readers and critics alike who said that Jefferson had effectively ruled out the possibility of any paranormal factor being involved in any of the accidents. In his review of the legend, he had written: “This nautical legend is very popular among the locals and has been so for many centuries, however it is highly dubious whether this ghost ship called The Howling Hades ever truly existed, as there are several historical inaccuracies in her local tale, and there are more than one version of the legend among the people of Port Calvin, who believe that the pirates frequented the town and continue to do so even after death. And while it is believed that the ghost ship appears only in misty nights, there are several people who have claimed to have seen The Howling Hades during day time.
During 17th and early 18th century, many pirates had made the Caribbean the base of their operation; these often sailed north to attack American ships, and this continued as late as 1870s. But the pirates, ruthless as they were, had their own code of honor; for example if a ship surrendered they would rarely kill few people on board, if any, thus the tale of Mary Sanctus’s crew being all slaughtered by the pirates, despite having surrendered, is dubious.
In addition, the manner in which the pirates were punished in those days was quite different from what is said in the legend. Those pirates who were arrested by the British navy were taken to England, where they would be executed publicly at Execution Dock on the River Thames in London, and although there might have been a few exceptions to this, there are no historical accounts of such a mass carnage as what happened on the deck of the Howling Hades, by the British Navy and also hanging of the captain of the pirates from the main mast.
It is largely believed that the ship appears in the dark of the night, when it is foggy, but it is a scientific fact that our mind plays tricks on us, in other words one will see what he wants to see, the mind actually makes up the image of what one is thinking about, and when looking at the clouds, or in this case the mist, you behold various shapes, which can stimulate the imagination. As of the cases in which the ghost ship has been sighted during day time, there is only one phenomenon that I can think about: a very unusual and rare form of mirage called “Fata Morgana”. Fata Morgana is seen in a narrow band right above the horizon, this kind of mirage heavily distorts the image of the object they are based on. For example one may see a phantom ship floating among the clouds and may notice that its shape changes or it is reversed, but it is simply the reflection of a ship that is sailing below that image, which could be at a long distance so the ship itself may not be seen. Most sailors today know a few things about this rare phenomenon, which in the past scared the superstitious sailors, but it seems that even today there are people who are still scared by it”.
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Jefferson stood on the deck of the ferry by which he was traveling to his hometown, the ferry had departed from Port Calvin at 10.30 pm and was en rout to Rhode Island midnight and the date was June the 13th, the night sky was clear and the stars shone brightly above his head, he was gazing at the ocean, pondering about its beauty and tranquility. He thought about his work and what he had accomplished, how he had rejected the paranormal theory, giving the locals assurance that there is no ghost ship haunting the sea near their town, helping people overcome their silly superstitions.
While thinking about these matters, he felt a cool breeze, at first he liked it, taking a deep breathe, but the breeze became colder and colder, evolving into a powerful cold wind, he noticed that the clouds were changing and the sky getting darker, as if a storm was approaching. Deciding to get back to his cabin and surprised by the sudden change in the weather, he turned around to walk away, when he saw the lights of the ship flickering, and he felt that the ship has stopped moving.
There was a panicked cry from one of the cabins, then another one, and then a couple more cry coming from a different cabin, a second later all passengers rushed out of their cabins, panicked and acting like the insane, they ran about screaming, Jefferson, shocked, quickly ran away from the crowd that seemed to be in a fear frenzy and hid somewhere relatively safe. From where he was, he could see a horrible storm and a strange, bizarre thunder and lightning, there was no rain and a greenish fog was forming on the sea surface, among the screams of the passengers, he thought he could hear a frightening laughter when the thunder roared, and an unspeakable terror crawled on his soul.
Suddenly there came a loud, metallic sound: the metal sheets where being torn off, water rushed inside the ship and it seemed that no one was able to do anything about it. The ship was sinking in the middle of the ocean; a bright lightning illuminated the sky like a portent of doom. As they where sinking, suddenly, as if in response to an inner call, Jefferson took out his small digital camera and took a picture of the lightning. The ship was tilting now, it was only a matter of minutes before they were all drowned in the dark water of the ocean, but Jefferson, like someone hypnotized, was standing still, gazing at the screen of his camera; in the picture he took, near the Ferry at a distance of about 57 feet, he could see an old ship that looked transparent, small red glowing orbs could be seen all around it: a ghostly ship with broken planks, severed ropes that hanged loosely over the torn sails, from the main mast a human skeleton was hanging …
