The Vesta Pearl

The Vesta Pearl was built in St. John, New Brunswick. Apparently when she had been built there was a controversy as to who would be the captain. There were two choices so it was finally decided to give the captain to one and the first mate to the other one.

When she sailed out for her maiden voyage it seems the first mate was steering the vessel and the captain was working on deck when the captain fell overboard and drowned. Although never proved it was felt the first mate had given a sharp turn on the wheel which caused the captain to loose his footing and fall over board to his death.

After that the Vesta Pearl was said to be haunted and it was very hard to keep a crew. The vessel was sold to a Capt. Johnson from Port Wade, NS. The crew sailed her without too much incidence but always had a feeling there was someone else extra on board. They did not fear this extra hand, in fact he seemed to only appear when an extra hand was needed on board.

For instance if they were caught in a gale of wind and four men were reefing the sails and one on the wheel; the wheelsman would look out at times and see five men reefing the sails.

They had only been out for just over four months when they were on a voyage to Boston. They came into strong gale force easterly winds and when they went to reef, there was the extra man already on the job.

One crew member told of an experience while in port at Annapolis Royal. The Vesta Pearl was anchored off shore and the whole crew was going to shore for the evening to stretch their legs and get on dry land for a bit.

The tides in this area are the highest in the world and while it was low tide you could walk from the ship to shore. But then you had to plan your return trip for the next low tide twelve hours later. The men would wear their rubber boots to walk on the mud and then leave them on shore until they returned.

One crew member noticed on his return trip the other boots still on shore. He was pushing the time limit to get back to the ship before the tide was too high. He said to himself the others would have to wait for the next tide or find a boat to bring them out to the ship. After walking across the mud the crew member left a lot of mud on the rungs of the ladder on his climb up the side of the ship.

He was hungry so decided to go to the galley for some tea and “salt horse” (salt beef). While he was still eating he heard another crew member come stomping up the ladder and on board. This guy must have just made it; the boat was already starting to shift with the incoming tide.

He finished his lunch and then went to see who else had made it back. He looked everywhere on board but did not find anyone there. He looked for footprints but could not find any besides his own.

He was not scared but had the strange feeling he was not alone on board. It was not until the next day when the rest of the crew arrived back on board that he could get any answers. He asked if anyone had come on the night before, but they all said they hadn't. They decided it had to have been the extra man who came back on board the Vesta Pearl that night.

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