Jack Harry's Lights

JACK HARRY'S LIGHTS.

THE phantom lights are called, they tell me, "Jack Harry's lights," because he was the first man who was fooled by them. They are generally observed before a gale, and the ship seen is like the ship which is sure to be wrecked. The man who communicated this to me said, "What or how it is we can't tell, but the fact of its being seen is too plain."

The following is another version, which I received from an old pilot--

"Some five years ago, on a Sunday night, the wind being strong, our crew heard of a large vessel in the offing, after we came out of chapel. We manned our big boat, the Ark,--she was nearly new then,--and away we went, under close-reefed foresail and little mizen, the sea going over us at a sweet rate. The vessel stood just off the head, the wind blowing W. N. W. We had gone off four or five miles, and we thought we were up alongside, when, lo I she slipped to windward a league or more. Well, off we went after her, and a good beating match we had, too; but the Ark was a safe craft, and we neared and neared till, as we thought, we got up close. Away she whizzed in a minute, in along to Godrevy, just over the course we sailed; so we gave it up for "Jack Harry's light," and, with wet jackets and disappointed hopes, we bore up for the harbour, prepared to hear of squalls, which came heavier than ever next day.

"Scores of pilots have seen and been led a nice chase after them. They are just the same as the Flying Dutchman, seen off the Cape of Good Hope."

Another man informed me that, once coming down channel, they had a phantom ship alongside of them for miles it was a moonlight night, with a thin rain and mist. They could see several men aboard moving about. They hailed her several times, but could not get an answer, "and we didn't know what to think of her, when all at once she vanished."