Capt. Tory

Captain Tory

“Is there really a ghost ship in the harbour, Grandpa?” Asked Little Finn
“Yes lad, there is. But only by special light can it be seen.” The old man said through his dark beard. “I don't know if I'll be tellin' the likes of you. I think you're a bit too young to be told stories like the one of Captain Tory.” He ruffled his grandson's curly red hair and gave a chuckle that sounded like he had a belly like a bowl full of jelly. It was almost in spite of himself.

Finn sat silent thinking hard what sort of special light his Grandpa could mean. The moon when it was full? Or a blue moon, or maybe it’s the sun at noon day? Finn gave up guessing in his mind and asked, “What special light is that, Grandpa?”
Finn looked up to his Grandpa's eyes to see if he could find an answer. His Grandpa looked away and Finn knew he had given it away. He followed the gaze to an old lantern on the fireplace mantle. “Grandpa, is that the special light?” He pointed to the lantern.
“You are a clever lad aren't you.”
“Can we go see? Tonight, can we go?” Finn sat up with excitement. It was already past his bedtime but he knew how to play his grandpa.
“Whoa, slow down lad. Slow down. There is another light that must be on in order to see the ship of Captain Tory,” said his Grandpa and then left a pause so his grandson could sit in silence to figure out the other part of the mystery.
After a few minutes of silence Finn's Grandpa began to speak again:
“Along time ago a ship came into the harbour on a damp foggy night. My grandfather, your great great grandfather was keeper of the lighthouse that still stands at the edge of the peer down at the harbour's entrance. He didn't live there; it wasn't that kind of light house. He lived here in this house like me.” Finn's eyes were fixed on his grandpa's eyes so as not to miss a single word. He shifted slightly in his grandpa's lap and then his grandpa continued:

“On that foggy night my grandfather did not know of any vessels coming into the harbour. He usually had a list of boats coming and going so that he could warn ships as needed. So, this particular night, this extra foggy night no warnings of the cursed schooner were known. He was down at the local pub having a pint with his mates when Gladys, my grandmother, came running in. The fog rolled into the pub as she opened the door and she yelled to Stanley, 'Come quickly a ship in coming in fast and the lighthouse is not on!' Stanley jumped to his feet and followed Gladys out the door and down the cobble road. He pulled his collar up to keep out the cold and the damp. He ran past his house to the harbour and swung open the door to the lighthouse. He lit a lantern that rested on a nail by the front door. With the lantern lit he ran up the stairs to light the candles inside the large convex mirror. There were twenty in all and he hoped he could get them all in time.
“He looked out the window into the night but could not see anything but a cold, dark grey. He heard shouts coming from the fog and he heard splashes. Stanley could only imagine what was going on the deck of the ship. He realized that he did not have time to light all the candles so he ran out onto the surrounding deck that encircled the room atop the lighthouse. He swung the lantern three times and then the schooner appeared. It was too late. The boat rammed into the wall at almost full speed. It smashed into pieces and sank into the harbour. Two of the crew survived. They were the splashes that Stanley had heard in the fog. The others were shot in the head by Captain Tory for disobeying orders. That is what the two surviving seamen said.
The ship sank down deep into the harbour along with Captain Tory and the remaining the sailors. The two surviving seamen were taken to the hospital and treated for some crazy disease picked up in the dark parts of this world; a disease that cursed many on the schooner, including the captain. He had ordered his men to ram the town and to attack anyone who tried to stop them. That is when the survivors jumped ship and when captain Tory fired two shots. Stanley said he only heard two shots in his testimony.

Anyways the decision by the town council then was to not raise the ship and leave the bodies of Captain Tory and the other crew down in the harbour in fear of spreading the feared disease. And it has remained there ever since.”
Finn was so excited he could not contain himself. “How does the lantern work? Did the disease contaminate the water? Did people go crazy and start eating each other?” Finn's active imagination worked overtime to try and fill in the holes in his Grandpa's story.
“Over the years people have tried to go down and filled the wreckage but those that come back say that it is not there. Others who have gone down have not come back. But I have told enough ghost stories for one night. It's time to put you to bed.”
Finn did not budge off of his Grandpa's lap. “What about the lantern,” he asked? “How does it work?”
“It has powers to bring people and things from the other side. It is a very powerful talisman that allows people and objects to travel from our world into other worlds.” Finn's Grandpa said quietly. “Stanley did not fully understand its power when he had possession of it. But my father did. I don't know how he found out, maybe it was by accident but he knew. He showed me too.” He paused, waiting for the response.

“So how does it work?”
“Come get your shoes on. I'll show you.”
Still in his pajamas Finn walked beside his grandpa holding his hand. It was worn by the years and felt like used sandpaper, soft and rough at the same time. The fog was rolling in off the east river and the lights from the streetlights were blurred making the boys vision somewhat blurred. He imagined all sorts of creatures hiding in the shadows of the old streets as he walked to short distance to the harbour. His grandpa was the ceremonial keeper of the lighthouse that stood on the wall of the horbour for four generations. A new one was constructed in the nineteen sixties that housed computers and electric lights. The old once was left abandoned and Finn's grandpa was out of a job for several years until someone thought that the heritage of the town was important. He was given the honour back in nineteen seventy five and has lit the old light house up on special occasions ever since.
Finn looked over to his grandpa's other hand and saw the lantern swinging forward and backward, forward and backward in time with the foot falls. He was nervous and excited and scared all at the same time: nervous that it would not work and his grandpa’s story was just that a story; excited that it would work and that he would see a real ghost ship and scared as well for the same reason.
The end of the street opened onto another street that followed the harbour. There was a wrought iron railing separating the solid ground of the road and the cold water of the harbour. They came to a stop at the railing. Finn let go of his grandpa's hand and put them both on his hips. He looked out over the harbour and onto the city beyond. The lights from the buildings shone like tiny stars trapped in hundreds of small boxes. The universe contained. The fog had lifted a little and even the bridge that connected the two sides of the city could be seen. Its lights reflected in the dark mysteries of the harbour. Finn could see his breath as he let out a long sigh, he did not realize that he had been holding it in.
His Grandpa lifted up the lantern and opened a small glass door and lit the candle that was housed inside. He closed the door and locked the latch. It illuminated the wrinkled face of his grandpa and his eyes sparkled like the lights trapped in the boxes of the town.
He swung his lantern three times and slowly the schooner appeared, just as a light came on in the little boy's eyes.