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Haunted Eastern Shore: Ghostly Tales
A Mysterious Experience At Sea -
Capt. Leonard Tawes
Crisfield, MD and Kent
County, MD
Capt. L. S. Tawes, describes an interesting event -
Did Ghost of Mate from Chestertown visit his Vessel?
- Every indication that Man’s Soul paid Ship a visit
at time of death in Foreign Hospital - Crisfield
Skipper tells of Strange Experience.
KENT NEWS, CHESTERTOWN, MD., May/June 1920
Letter written by Capt. L.S. Tawes to the Editors of
The Times, Crisfield, Md.
Gentlemen:
Should you care to use a little space in your paper,
I will describe a mysterious occurrence which I
experienced on one of my sea voyages, in the year
1893, which I would to ask some of the “Higher
Kulter” to explain. This has been bearing on my mind
considerable since Sir Oliver Lodge came to this
country several weeks ago. I am not a believer in
ghost stories. My theory is that when man dies he is
bourne whence no traveler returns.
In the year 1893 I chartered with Messrs Tate Muller
& Co., exporters out of Baltimore, to carry a
general cargo, mostly bread stuff, to Demerara,
British Gueana [Guiana]. I had a mate with me,
Thomas Cosden, of Chestertown, who had been in the
vessel with me for quite a long time, and who took
much interest in the ship and in my general welfare.
While loading the cargo, I could see that his health
was failing him and that he was not keeping up with
his work. He seemed delinquent and it began to worry
me considerably, I having so much to attend to on
shore such as buying stores, rigging, blocks,
getting water cask put in order, shipping the crew
and many other things too numerous to mention which
befall a ship master and which cannot be neglected.
But after the Mate’s long and faithful service on
board, I disliked to tell him to leave, which I have
since regretted. So I signed him up for the voyage,
and after being loaded and getting on board our
stores, water, crew, etc., we cleared and sailed.
After a passage of 22 days we arrived safely at
Demerara, but about a week before arriving, the Mate
became too ill to be of any service, and I had to
put him off duty. After arriving I put him in the
hospital there and visited him as much as possible,
having to be both Captain and Mate kept me busy at
the ship, looking after the discharge and count of
the cargo when it was not raining, which it did
fully half of the time. And every wet place steam
with plenty of vapor arising- not much of a place
for pleasure seekers in the rainy season, say in
June, July, and August.
At last the day came when my cargo was out. I could
obtain no cargo there and I must leave light. Before
clearing for Barbados where I must go seeking, I
went to the hospital to get my Mate. But much to my
astonishment the doctor, a very nice Englishman,
told me I could not take him that he was too ill to
go aboard a ship. I was much grieved to hear this
and I told him this man had a mother living near
Chestertown, and I would like to take him back home
with me. What encouragement can I give him, I asked,
and the Doctor replied that he didn’t think the man
would ever recover.
I forgot what name he gave the disease, but he said
that if it broke out on the outside he might
recover, and that if it broke out on the inside, it
would kill him. And he feared it would eventually
turn into consumption. The Doctor told me to break
the news to the Mate, of his condition, and it was a
trying experience- to tell the young man whom I must
sail without, of his impending death and I must
leave him there in a foreign country to face the
unknown alone. But if I must, I must. So I went
upstairs and after some conversation, I had to tell
him what the Doctor said. He took it very hard, as I
knew he would. I gave the Nurse a little money and
asked them to take special interest in him. I told
him I would leave all of his wages with the American
Consul which is what our Marine laws require to be
done when leaving an American seaman in a foreign
land.
The time now comes to say goodbye, and I will always
see the last look he gave me as I walked down the
stairs; he raised up in bed to take a last glance at
me, and those eyes I will see as long as my
facilities remain with me.
I sailed for Barbados, but I could not ship a Mate,
as there were none to be secured. I arrived at
Barbados and after staying there about a week, I
chartered to go to Antigua to load sugar for
Philadelphia. It was the later part of July and
hurricane season was in full blast. When four days
out, on a Sunday, I was to the windward to the
Island of Martinique, the lighthouse showing plainly
at 12 o’clock noon; the wind was blowing very hard
and the sea running high, the appeared just ahead on
the bow a low island which I had overlooked on the
chart. I tried to tack ship and beat up to the
windward of the island, but my vessel being light
and such sea running that she would not tack.
Finally I saw a little narrow channel running
between this small island and the main land. I
consulted my chart and saw that the channel was
clear of obstructions and deep, so I kept her off
and ran down the channel between the two islands.
Before dark set in on me I saw that I was clear of
any land in sight, so I reefed her down and hove to
for the night. I was now in a basin surrounded by a
group of islands and a hurricane threatening to come
upon me at any minute. If any reader was ever in a
West India hurricane he can imagine my feeling-
having no Mate and poor crew to help handle the
ship. I kept the first watch, from 8 to 11 p.m. Then
to get a little rest, I must go below. At 4 a.m.
when two sailors I had left in charge of the Middle
Watch, called me, a big sailor named Pete said to me
“Captain, the Mate has been on board.” Nonsense, I
answered “What are you trying to give me.” “Yes,
sir,” he said, “he was certainly here and the other
man saw him too. He walked all around these decks.”
I asked the sailor what time it was that he saw the
Mate on board, and he replied at 2 o’clock a.m. I
asked the other man and he substantiated the story
exactly as Peter had told it. When the day broke and
light came I saw the Island of Antiqua bearing to
the North West of me. I made more sail, kept off and
ran down to the island to take a pilot and went into
the harbor of St. Johns where I came to anchor.
I loaded there a cargo of sugar and went to
Philadelphia, discharged the cargo and from there
went to Kings Ferry, Florida, where I loaded lumber
for Demerara. I had a long and rough passage and
after rocking about on the ocean for 37 days I
arrived safely at Demerara. As soon as the ship was
safely moored and entered at the Custom House, and I
had deposited my papers at the American Consulate, I
went to the hospital to inquire for my Mate, who I
had left there four months before. They told me he
was dead. I asked them when he died and they gave me
the day and hour and it tallied exactly with the day
and hour that the two sailors saw him walking
around.
If anyone wishes to substantiate this statement,
they can do so by writing to the hospital in
Demerara and getting the date and hour of his
departure, and then referring to my log book up my
garret at home. I will wager a fifty dollar suit of
clothes that the date and hour will prove the same.
Trusting I have not worried you with too long a
story, which I could (have) made much longer, I am
Respectfully yours,
Capt. L. S. Tawes.
Copied from the Kent News as published in the May
or June issue 1920.
By Lieut. Thomas E. Cosden, U.S.C.G. December 29,
1943,Lieut. Thos. E. Cosden U.S.C.G.”
(Thomas E. Cosden was the son of James E. Cosden
who was the brother of Capt. Benjamin Hopper Cosden.)
Article provided by Sue W. Thompson of Queen Anne's
County; Cosden Family Genealogist.
OTHER HAUNTED STORIES ...
Big Lizz |
Capt. Leonard Tawes |
Crisfield Tales
|
Hanging Tree |
Hope House |
Kitty Knight House |
Patty Cannon |
Richardson
Maritime Museum |
Marshall Price -Murder of Sallie
Dean |
Shoal Creek Manor |
St Paul's Cemetery - Rock
Hall |
Tales From Down Below, Lower Dorchester
|
Two Haunted
Tales from Somerset |
Whitemarsh Cemetery
| Willson's Chance -
Ghost of Annie Belle Carter |
Wish Sheppard - Caroline Jail
Haunted Eastern Shore
Ghostly Tales from East of the
Chesapeake
by Mindie Burgoyne
ISBN: 1596297204
PRICE: $17.99
160 Pages
Published by History Press
Haunted America series
ON SALE NOW!!!
Order Your Copy Today
BECOME A FAN of Haunted Eastern Shore
Book Description:
They walk beside the
murky waters of the Chesapeake Bay,
linger among the fetid swamps and
roam the manor halls. These are the
tormented souls who refuse to leave
the sites of their demise. From
pitiless smugglers to reluctant
brides, the ghostly figures of the
Eastern Shore are at once terrifying
and tragic. Mindie Burgoyne takes
readers on a spine-tingling journey
as she recounts the grisly events at
the Cosden Murder Farm and the
infamous legend of Patty Cannon.
Tread the foggy lanes of Kent Manor
Inn and linger among Revolutionary
War dead to discover the
otherworldly occupants of Maryland's
most haunted shore.
Haunted sites
mentioned in the book include:
-
Cecil County -
Holly Hall, Old Bohemia,
Mitchell House
-
Kent County -
Cosden Murder Farm, White House
Farm, St. Paul's Cemetery &
Bridge, Kitty Knight House
-
Queen Anne's
County - Bloomingdale, Kent
Manor Inn
-
Caroline County
- The Tale of Wish Shepherd, The
Murder Sallie Dean, Athol - a
Child's Ghost in Henderson,
Willson's Chance
-
Talbot County -
The Lost City of Dover,
Whitemarsh Cemetery, The
Wilderness, Tunis Mills Hanging
Tree
-
Dorchester
County - Shoal Creek Manor,
Patty Cannon's Trail of Tears,
Suicide Bridge, Green Briar
Swamp & Big Lizz, Tales From
Down Below
-
Wicomico County
- The Ghost Light Road
-
Worcester County
- Cellar House, the Snow Hill
Inn
-
Somerset County
- Ananias Crockett's House,
Holland's Island, Vance Miles
House.
Tales include
narratives given to Salisbury
University Folklore students thirty
years ago, describing hauntings,
ghosts and legends of the Eastern
Shore.
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