Puget Sound ghost ships!

Ira Wesley Kitmacher

As it’s Halloween, I’d like to focus on the ghost ships that have been reported on Puget Sound, resulting from the many shipwrecks that have occurred.

Those who believe in ghosts say they can take many forms, some of which are in control of inanimate objects, like ships which met with traumatic and tragic ends. Approximately 40% of adult Americans say they believe in ghosts.  

Two of the world’s most famous ghost ships are The Flying Dutchman and The Lady Lovibond.   

The Flying Dutchman is the most sighted and is thought to be a 17th century Dutch ship that is cursed to roam the oceans forever and is a harbinger of doom. Legend has it Captain Hendrik Van der Decken went mad in a storm and vowed he would sail around the Cape of Good Hope “even if God would let me sail to Judgment Day!”

Many have claimed to have seen the Dutchman, as well as its glowing, ghostly lights and heard disembodied whispers on the wind. One witness was Prince George of Wales (the future King George V of the United Kingdom) in 1880. On a more lighthearted note, the ghostly Flying Dutchman is a recurring character in the animated “SpongeBob SquarePants.”  

The Lady Lovibond sailed on Feb. 13, 1748, with Captain Simon Reed and his new bride on board. There was music and laughter as the couple celebrated their honeymoon.

Legend has it the first mate, John Rivers, secretly loved Reed’s bride and in despair steered the ship into the treacherous waters off Kent, England, where it wrecked and all perished. Some say the Lovibond sails every 50 years on the anniversary of the wreck, with an eerie green glow and ghostly sounds of music and celebration. 

An image of a ghost ship.

Pixabay

In the 19th and early 20th centuries, sailing on Puget Sound, stretching from Olympia in the south to the Strait of Juan de Fuca in the north, was dangerous. Shipwrecks occurred for many reasons, including collisions with other ships and objects in the water, boiler explosions and bad weather.

It is estimated that 364 ships have sunk in those waters. This number is relatively small compared to the “Graveyard of the Pacific,” the portion of the Pacific Coast from Northern Oregon’s Tillamook, up the Washington coast, to Vancouver Island in Canada. There, more than 2,000 ships have sunk, with countless lives lost. I refer to Puget Sound as a “watery graveyard,” as most of the shipwrecks remain under as much as 900 feet of water. 

 The two best known Puget Sound shipwrecks that have generated ghost ship stories are the Andelana and Dix.  

The Andelana was a large four-masted British barque or sailing ship that was tied up in Tacoma’s Commencement Bay on Jan. 13, 1899, awaiting a shipment of wheat. It is said the crew didn’t like the ship, as they thought the masts were too tall and the ship didn’t do well in the wind.

Before the captain knew, nine of the crew escaped the ship. The captain was so angry, he had the remaining crew and their dogs sit for a photograph as if to say, “I know who you are, don’t dare get off.”

A freak storm hit Tacoma with 40 mile per hour winds, causing the top-heavy ship (as it didn’t yet have its ballast of wheat) to roll over and sink. Within 24 hours, the Andelana sat below 200 feet of water at the bottom of Commencement Bay, with the crew dead.

Divers attempted to reach the ship, with at least one drowning. The ship remains where it sank. Ever since the sinking, people have reported seeing the ghostly Andelana sailing on Puget Sound, often exiting ectoplasm or mist. Phantom sailors have also been seen desperately rowing, trying to get help, only to dissipate.

Legend has it the Andelana’s crew had recurring premonitions of drowning in their sleeping quarters, which they did. This story also spawned the legend of a curse, which I’ll discuss in a future column. 

The crew of the Andelana.

Courtesy of University of Washington Special Collections

The SS Dix was a small wooden steamboat, one of the “Mosquito Fleet,” the many hundreds of small steamships that were the main form of transportation in the Puget Sound region from the 1880s to the 1920s. The Mosquito Fleet got its name when, as legend has it, a Seattle office worker saw the many small steamboats and said they “looked like a swarm of mosquitos.”

The Dix was sailing from Seattle to Bainbridge Island when, 20 minutes into the cruise, it collided with the larger SS Jeanie. The captain had been collecting fares (which captains often did), while the unlicensed first officer commanded.

The ship was destroyed in the collision, the worst maritime disaster on Puget Sound, with 45 of the 77 aboard killed. Ever since the wreck, phantom lights on the water’s surface and a strange glow from a submerged ship have been reported, as well as disembodied voices crying for help and an unexplained chill in the air. The Dix remains submerged under 600 hundred feet of water. 

The existence of ghost ships, like other forms ghosts are said to take, is believed by some but not proven. As we look out onto beautiful Puget Sound, we should remember the many lives were lost in shipwrecks, as well as keep an eye out for reported ghost ships.   

 Ira Wesley Kitmacher is an Olympia-based historian and author, writing “Haunted Puget Sound,” “Pacific Northwest Legends and Lore,” and other published books. He leads tours based on his books. Ira is a speaker at various public venues.  He is featured on television, radio, and other media. Ira is a Commissioner on the Thurston County Historic Commission. He is a professor, having taught at Georgetown University and other colleges. Ira is a retired senior federal executive and attorney.