The Telegraph Journal Saint John N.B. Monday, October 13, 1969. p.2.

Chaleur's Phantom Ship Sails Again
By Sharon Miller, Staff Writer.

BATHURST - The "elusive phantom ship" continues her haunting voyages in Bay of Chaleur waters. The latest sighting of the famed flaming ghost ship comes from a family in nearby Stonehaven.

The strange spectacle was spotted last month by Mr. and Mrs. Bert Wood, their son Hadley and daughter Betty.

"We had heard different stories about... the phantom ship but we didn't believe them, we thought it was a joke," said Mr. Wood, "then after laughing at people who said they had seen the ship l saw it. As big as life and lit up so brilliantly..."

The eerie phenomenon has come alive at frequent intervals down through the years for more than a century, as people claim to have spotted the ghost ship from different areas along the coastline.

Mrs. Wood recalled the night her family saw it.

"It was after 11 o'clock on the night of September 9 the night Hurricane Gerda was to hit. It was raining with gusts up to 40 miles." Mrs Wood was downstairs alone in the family home which is situated on more than 100 foot overlooking the seldom-calm waters of the bay.

"I looked out the window and saw the thing... it was lit up from stern to stern, end to end or whatever. What first struck me was the bright light from it... too brilliant to be a ship. It seemed to be straight off the house when l first spotted it," she recalled.

Mr Wood described the unusual sight as resembling a burning building.

"It appeared first like a mass of light along the water flaring up at interval then it would fade away and become nothing more than a glimmer along the water."

He noted one of the remarkable things was the intensity of the lights which were "certainly not normal", he said.

"And the speed of the thing... it was fantastic," said Mr Wood.

"We watched it for about a half hour and estimated that it travelled 30 miles in that time.

"Ships run 12 to 14 knots an hour here but this one seemed to be running much faster," said Mr Wood. "Working in and out the light would flare die down."

The vigil ended at an upstairs window after the light moved many miles from where it was first sighted and "we could no longer see it from downstairs.

"I laughed for six months at a neighbor, Frank Hornibrook, when he said he saw the ship about 10 years ago, but l won't laugh anymore."

Mr. Nornibrook had a strange and embarrassing experience with the ship which he actually viewed on two consecutive nights. The first time he was driving alone towards Bathurst and in Stonehaven area sighted the Ship. Unfortunately he was the only one who saw it and was the subject of ridicule the next day. Nobody believed him.

However the very next night while describing the sight to neighbors, Mr and Mrs William Smith, Mrs Smith happened to glance out the window and saw the fiery apparition. AIl three went outside and watched the ghost ship for nearly 15 minutes. Mr Hornibrook described what they saw as being the size, of a very large ship however he said "we couldn't distinguish details of a ship -- it appeared more like a balI of fire."

About a week after the sighting by Mr Hornibrook and the Smiths, the mysterious spectacle was reported to have been seen again. This time it was, Mr and Mrs Freeman Rodgers (sic) and their daughter Mrs. John Nichol of Salmon Beach, a community located between Stonehaven and Bathurst.

Several superstitions have arisen over the eerie spectacle which is said to be the reincarnation of a flaming ship.

Stories vary from the reincarnation of a lost Quebec-bound immigrant ship an ill-fated pleasure craft from the United States and a square-rigged warship of former years.

However there's also another explanation which, for the imaginative romantic, would probably be ideal and in keeping with a spirit of romance long associate with the sea.

According to the legend the flaming ghost ship is said to be commanded by a fair young maiden who goes in search of her lost lover who was lost at sea.

A Salmon Beach resident Harry Miller, who has lived and sailed Bay of Chaleur waters for more than a half century as did his father and grandfather before him, said he has seen a fiery apparition in the waters of the bay on two occasions. However he explained "the following day l heard of a big fire across on the Quebec side both times." Mr Miller said about 30 miles of water separates the New Brunswick coastline from Quebec.

Others maintain the fiery apparition is the result of phosphorus in the water which illuminates giving off the fiery appearance.

In the village of Grand Anse, located about 10 miles from Stonehaven also on the coastline, stories have come to life about the famed ship. But there is a general apprehension by people to speak about the ship, particularly by older residents.

As one story goes: decades ago men saw the ghost like spectable and set out to travel to it and learn the mystery of the fiery spectacle when they returned from their strange adventure they ignored queries about their experience.

Meanwhile according to Bert Wood "there was nothing to be afraid of, it was just a beautiful sight... l don't believe in ghosts, I'm more afraid of the living than the dead ones."