The Legend of the Lost Ship

8/9/2024

By M.P. Pellicer | Stranger Than Fiction Stories
There is a legend of a ghostly vessel which is said to be a portent of death if sighted. There are different versions as to what is the name of the ship. This is one of them.

Yarmouth Harbor, Maine c.1864

April 1812, Maine

Charles Jose and George Leverett of Portland were riding along Middle road to Yarmouth. Both young men had been friends since childhood. Their plans were to order a full-rigged ship for the West Indian trade. Both were barely out of their teen years and Leverett's father and Jose's uncle were financing the venture.

At noon they arrived at the inn at South Freeport where they planned to eat dinner, before going to the shipyard. That night they both fell in love with Sarah Soule the innkeeper's daughter.

After dinner Leverett went to the shipyard, but Jose begged out saying he was feeling sick. Instead he pursued Sarah, who made it clear she was not interested in him.

The shipwright was Mr. Soule, unknown what his relationship was to Sarah, who promised to start on the vessel. Within a few days when the keel was laid, Leverett prosed to name the ship the Sarah. Jose agreed reluctantly, but he didn't participate in the planning of the vessel like before.

On the trip back to Portland they quarreled violently. Jose accused Leverett of taking unfair advantage in winning over Sarah Soule. On the bridge at Yarmouth he tried to force Leverett's horse over the rail into the waters of the Royal River. He didn't succeed in murdering his rival, but afterward Jose disappeared from Portland.

The following autumn the Sarah was ready to launch. Captain Leverett had proposed to Sarah Soule, and they chose the day of the launching as their wedding day. The whole area was ready to celebrate the double festivities.

Two ships at the Hole in the Wall c.1803

There were so many people attending the wedding that the instead of the church, it was to be held at the shipyard. The elderly ladies of the town shook their head, and said this new location boded only ill luck for the couple.

The clergyman heard of the mutterings and being a superstitious man, refused to conduct the ceremony at the new hour.

The nuptials were delayed since the new clergyman was summoned from Yarmouth. The wedding finally took place, however by October the Sarah had not set out on her maiden voyage, since Captain Leveret had trouble assembling a crew. Only five Freeport men had signed on, and the rest were finally recruited from Portland and Harpswell. This difficulty in getting the crew stemmed from rumors of bad luck connected to Leverett and his ship.

About this time a strange sighting was reported. It was a foreign barque, painted black and flying no flag between Cape Elizabeth and the mouth of the Kennebec. Fishermen said she was "pierced for cannon."

Since smugglers were in the area, not too many questions were asked, however the ship sailed into Portland Harbor on the same day the Sarah arrived from Freeport to load her cargo, and head to the West Indies.

The black ship was the Don Pedro Salazar captained by Charles Jose. He purchased the ship that was stuck on a reef in Havana harbor, and recruited his crew from the island. Captain Jose repaired the ship and purchased an American registry in order to do business.

Black pirate ship

Sarah Leverett planned to return to Freeport the following day by the packet sloop that traveled between Portland and Bunganuc, however at the last minute she traveled overland by stage.

Once the Bunganuc packet left port, it was overtaken by what was described as a whaleboat manned by foreign sailors off Clapboard Island. The whaleboat's officer demanded to know where Mrs. Leverett was. Finally they convinced the man she was not onboard. The skipper reported the incident to the authorities, but no action was taken.

The Don Pedro Salazar sold her cargo and she supposedly left for Boston, however she crept to Woodee Mark Island that night, took on the rest of the crew and cannons and waited until the Sarah put out to sea.

Hole in the Wall, Abaco, Bahamas Island c.2015

She trailed after the Sarah as she sailed south, all the way to Hole-in-the Wall a well known naval landmark that was a rocky point at the south end of Abaco, which is the most northern of the Bahama Islands.

Ships from Europe and the Americas when bound to the town of New Providence (Bahamas), Havana or the Mexican gulf would stop at the island instead of using the Old Bahama Channel. This spot was favored by the Providence privateers who smuggled contraband to Havana and other Spanish settlements. The area had deep, but transparent water which allowed easy maneuvering of ships if they arrived in the daylight hours.

By now Captain Leverett was anxious, but he kept his usual course for Matanazas Bay in the Florida Straits, which was known to be pirate infested.

He stopped at Nassau and reported to the British admiralty the circumstances of the strange black ship that pursued him.

Once Leverett left port of Nassau the Don Pedro Salazar hoisted the Jolly Roger and fired on the Sarah. A battle took place and when the pirates boarded the Sarah, the crew and officers were dead except for Captain Leverett.

Portrait of a woman c.1813

At this moment and many miles away, Sarah Leverett saw unexplained pinpricks of blood pop up on her hand. She screamed and said she knew her husband was dead.

The pirates ransacked the Sarah, and tied Captain Leverett to the foot of the mainmast.

Then a strange thing happened which "kept old wives' tongues wagging for many a year". The dead crew supposedly came back to life, braced the sails and started the Sarah back to home port. Leverett had lost consciousness and could not tell what happened on the strange return voyage.

On a late afternoon in November in South Harpswell a full-rigged ship came round Mark Island. It was said the Harpswell crew had brought their ship home. The ship skillfully avoided the rocks and reef in the channel. The harbor pilot saw the ship's upper works were shot away, her sails were full of holes and not a man of her crew was in sight, except for the helmsman.

At Pott's Harbor the ship stopped, but no anchor fell. The one undamaged lifeboat was lowered, and Captain Leverett was rowed ashore and laid on the grass. The lifeboat returned to the ship just as a cloud of fog rolled in, and obscured Haskell's Island.

Ships Constitution and Java c.1813

When the fog cleared the ship and the rowboat had vanished. The captain was found to be gravely ill with fever, and his log book was left next to him with the last entry reflecting the change of course for Nassau.

The story of the Sarah passed through three generations. From this event, a superstitious tale sprang that whenever a death was about to occur on Harpswell Neck, or on one of the Harpswell Islands the Dead Ship of Harpswell would come driving into Merriconeag Sound on her way to Pott's Harbor. The vessel would arrive in a cloud of fog, and only those concerned with the portent could see her.

The ship is always seen under full spread of sail, and bears down upon her objective regardless of wind and tide. She is usually seen at sundown or in the early evening. Her appearance is an image whatever vessel is overdue. The ghost ship disappears just as she seems to be crashing headlong into the wharf.

The last recorded visit of the Dead Ship to Harpswell was in the 1880s. A visitor at Harpswell House was on the veranda and saw a full-rigged ship sailing into port. He took his eyes off of it for a moment and it disappeared.

The legend inspired John Greenleaf Whittier's poem, The Dead Ship of Harpwell which was penned in 1866.

From gray sea-fog, from icy drift,
From peril and from pain.
The home-bound fisher greets thy lights,
Of hundred-harbored Maine.

Harpswell coastline at high tide c.1909

How much truth is there in this story? The Leveretts were a prominent family, not in Maine but in Massachusetts; John Leverett (1616-1679) served as Governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony.

The surname of Jose was known in Maine, especially during those years this story took place, however none with the first name of Charles.

There were also several from the Soule family who lived during this time period.

An alternate version of the the Dead Ship of Harpswell is the privateer Dash, which was lost with all hands during the same time period this story took place.

Source - The Portland Daily Press, Sun Journal