[Seed] The Mysterious Reappearances of the Marlborough
Jun 4, 2024 11:49:34 GMT
tampahawke and lupercal like this
Post by Catsmate on Jun 4, 2024 11:49:34 GMT
Firstly I Ate'nt Dead, just busy recently hence I've been a bit quiet.
Secondly, here's a little item from my collection of weird incidents. As you may have noticed I have an interest in odd happenings, so here's one of them
The Mysterious Reappearances of the Marlborough.
Firstly the facts, as culled from New Zealand sources.
Marlborough: The vessel sailed from Lyttelton [near Christchurch] on January 11, 1890, bound for London with a cargo comprising frozen meat and wool. Two days after sailing she was spoken by a passing vessel, and was never seen or heard of again. When no tidings of the vessel came after months of waiting an investigation was made as to her condition when she sailed, and it was proved that the cargo was properly stowed and the ship well found and manned for the voyage. She was owned by the Shaw, Savill and Albion Company and commanded by Captain W. Herd. The ship carried a crew of 29 and one passenger.
Now the story, as collected by Robert de la Croix in his Mysteries of the Sea (translated into English by James Cleugh). In Chapter 8, "Natural History of Derelicts", the author relates that:
Interesting. A ship missing for 23 years is found almost intact and still upright.
The account, by the way, is derived (mostly) from an article in the Singapore newspaper The Straits Times, which was based on an article in the London Evening Standard published on 3 October 1913 and which was itself, allegedly, based on a story cabled to the paper by a freelancer in New Zealand.
However there are a number of inconsistencies in this story, starting with the survival of a drifting ship near the notoriously dangerous Cape Horn.
However this is not the end to the story of the Marlborough.
There are actually three other stories of ships encountering the drifting vessel.
Sighting Number 2.
Another account of the ship was published in the Auckland Star of 02MAR1929. In this VERSION the Marlborough was found adrift in January 1899 by the ship British Isles under Captain Hadrop, sailing from Lyttleton to England and a little north of Cape Horn (near Isla de los Estados) when the Marlborough was sighted and boarded.
There are significant flaws in this story. The British Isles was a real ship, and was near the Cape at the time given, but there is no evidence of it visiting Lyttleton in the time period. Also she was captained by one James M Stott.
Sighting Number 3.
More recently, in 2006, a different account appeared in The Ghost Ship, Military's Strangest Campaign's and Characters by Tom Quinn. This time the Marlborough was boarded by an unnamed Royal Navy vessel off the coast of Chile in 1913.
Sighting Number 4.
Often called the 'Burley account' and published in the Wellington Evening Post
this had the Marlborough sighted and boarded by Captain Thomas Sydney Burley some six to seven miles north of Good Success Bay. The date is unspecified but appears to have been 1890-91.
This version started in 1915, and continued in 1914, 1919, 1923 and 1940.
Game Use.
A ship takes on a single female passenger1, various items of cargo and vanishes. Then it reappears, several times.
Given the setting, location and period, it just screams Torchwood to me.
Had they found something interesting in the Antipodes and decided to ship it home for study? Unfortunately I'm unable to to discover any suitable weird happening around that time2, but that probably means Torchwood covered it up well. Likewise for the contradictory accounts of the sights.
What happened to the Marlborough? Was it displaced into some curious alternate dimension there to meet the USS Eldridge? Captured by degenerate aquatic Reptilians attracted by whatever was on board?
And finally.
On 19MAR1890, two months after the Marlborough had sailed, her sister-ship the Dunedin followed. She carried 34 crew was commanded by the experienced Captain Arthur Roberts and carrying Roberts' daughter as the only passenger.
She also disappeared.
Efforts to locate both ships failed.
Ideas? Suggestions? Comments?
1. a Mrs. W. B. Anderson, who probably wasn't a Torchwood operative
2. But I've acquired Andrew Wood's Shadow Worlds: A history of the occult and esoteric in New Zealand so I may be back on that.
Secondly, here's a little item from my collection of weird incidents. As you may have noticed I have an interest in odd happenings, so here's one of them
The Mysterious Reappearances of the Marlborough.
Firstly the facts, as culled from New Zealand sources.
The Marlborough, No. 73,858, was a handsome, full-rigged ship of 1,191 tons gross and 1,124 tons net register, built at Glasgow in June 1876, by R. Duncan and Company, and her dimensions were: length 228 ft., beam 35 ft., depth 21 ft.
Now the story, as collected by Robert de la Croix in his Mysteries of the Sea (translated into English by James Cleugh). In Chapter 8, "Natural History of Derelicts", the author relates that:
In October, 1913, a sailing vessel off Tierra del Fuego [another report names the vessel as the Johnson] sighted a big three-master, apparently disabled. Only part of her canvas was in use. She did not reply when signalled. The three master’s sails, rigging, deck and superstructure were green with mould. The master [of the Johnson] ordered a boat to be lowered and when it reached the stern of the ship, he read, in letters half worn away, the words MARLBOROUGH, GLASGOW
On boarding the ship which had stranded in a practically upright position, in a sheltered position, it was found that the deck planks had rotted yielding to the tread. Skeletons, still clothed, were found everywhere. One lay at the wheel, another near the hatchway to the hold, three more reclined on the poop, and there were another10 in the fo’c’sle and six in the wardroom. The wind had carried away the ship’s papers and the log had rotted. There remained absolutely no clue to the mystery.
On boarding the ship which had stranded in a practically upright position, in a sheltered position, it was found that the deck planks had rotted yielding to the tread. Skeletons, still clothed, were found everywhere. One lay at the wheel, another near the hatchway to the hold, three more reclined on the poop, and there were another10 in the fo’c’sle and six in the wardroom. The wind had carried away the ship’s papers and the log had rotted. There remained absolutely no clue to the mystery.
The account, by the way, is derived (mostly) from an article in the Singapore newspaper The Straits Times, which was based on an article in the London Evening Standard published on 3 October 1913 and which was itself, allegedly, based on a story cabled to the paper by a freelancer in New Zealand.
However there are a number of inconsistencies in this story, starting with the survival of a drifting ship near the notoriously dangerous Cape Horn.
However this is not the end to the story of the Marlborough.
There are actually three other stories of ships encountering the drifting vessel.
Sighting Number 2.
Another account of the ship was published in the Auckland Star of 02MAR1929. In this VERSION the Marlborough was found adrift in January 1899 by the ship British Isles under Captain Hadrop, sailing from Lyttleton to England and a little north of Cape Horn (near Isla de los Estados) when the Marlborough was sighted and boarded.
There are significant flaws in this story. The British Isles was a real ship, and was near the Cape at the time given, but there is no evidence of it visiting Lyttleton in the time period. Also she was captained by one James M Stott.
Sighting Number 3.
More recently, in 2006, a different account appeared in The Ghost Ship, Military's Strangest Campaign's and Characters by Tom Quinn. This time the Marlborough was boarded by an unnamed Royal Navy vessel off the coast of Chile in 1913.
Sighting Number 4.
Often called the 'Burley account' and published in the Wellington Evening Post
this had the Marlborough sighted and boarded by Captain Thomas Sydney Burley some six to seven miles north of Good Success Bay. The date is unspecified but appears to have been 1890-91.
This version started in 1915, and continued in 1914, 1919, 1923 and 1940.
- After all everyone likes a good mystery.
Game Use.
A ship takes on a single female passenger1, various items of cargo and vanishes. Then it reappears, several times.
Given the setting, location and period, it just screams Torchwood to me.
Had they found something interesting in the Antipodes and decided to ship it home for study? Unfortunately I'm unable to to discover any suitable weird happening around that time2, but that probably means Torchwood covered it up well. Likewise for the contradictory accounts of the sights.
What happened to the Marlborough? Was it displaced into some curious alternate dimension there to meet the USS Eldridge? Captured by degenerate aquatic Reptilians attracted by whatever was on board?
And finally.
On 19MAR1890, two months after the Marlborough had sailed, her sister-ship the Dunedin followed. She carried 34 crew was commanded by the experienced Captain Arthur Roberts and carrying Roberts' daughter as the only passenger.
She also disappeared.
Efforts to locate both ships failed.
Ideas? Suggestions? Comments?
1. a Mrs. W. B. Anderson, who probably wasn't a Torchwood operative
2. But I've acquired Andrew Wood's Shadow Worlds: A history of the occult and esoteric in New Zealand so I may be back on that.
