Transcribed from the 1909 Rider and Co. edition , email
By
Bram Stoker
Author of “Dracula,” “TheJewel of Seven Stars,”
“The Mystery of the Sea,” etc.
London
Rider and Co.
Printed in Great Britain
Copyright, London, 1909, by Bram Stoker
All rights reserved
to
my dear old friend
THE COMTESSE DE GUERBEL
(geneviève ward)
A strange story comes from the Adriatic. It appears that on thenight of the 9th, as the Italia Steamship Company’s vessel“Victorine” was passing a little before midnight the pointknown as “the Spear of Ivan,” on the coast of the BlueMountains, the attention of the Captain, then on the bridge, was called bythe look-out man to a tiny floating light close inshore. It is thecustom of some South-going ships to run close to the Spear of Ivan in fineweather, as the water is deep, and there is no settled current; also thereare no outlying rocks. Indeed, some years ago the local steamers hadbecome accustomed to hug the shore here so closely that an intimation wassent from Lloyd’s that any mischance under the circumstances wouldnot be included in ordinary sea risks. Captain Mirolani is one ofthose who insist on a wholesome distance from the promontory being kept;but on his attention having been called to the circumstance reported, hethought it well to investigate it, as it might be some case of personaldistress. Accordingly, he had the engines slowed down, and edgedcautiously in towards shore. He was joined on the bridge by two ofhis officers, Signori Falamano and Destilia, and by one passenger on board,Mr. Peter Caulfield, whose reports of Spiritual Phenomena in remote placesare well known to the readers of “The Journal ofOccultism.” The following account of the strange occurrencewritten by him, and attested by the signatures of Captain Mirolani and theother gentleman named, has been sent to us.
“ . . . It was eleven minutes before twelve midnight on Saturday,the 9th day of January, 1907, when I saw the strange sight off the headlandknown as the Spear of Ivan on the coast of the Land of the BlueMountains. It was a fine night, and I stood right on the bows of theship, where there was nothing to obstruct my view. We were somedistance from the Spear of Ivan, passing from northern to southern point ofthe wide bay into which it projects. Captain Mirolani, the Master, isa very careful seaman, and gives on his journeys a wide berth to the baywhich is tabooed by Lloyd’s. But when he saw in the moonlight,though far off, a tiny white figure of a woman drifting on some strangecurrent in a small boat, on the prow of which rested a faint light (to meit looked like a corpse-candle!), he thought it might be some person indistress, and began to cautiously edge towards it. Two of hisofficers were with him on the bridge—Signori Falamano andDestilia. All these three, as well as myself, saw It. The restof the crew and passengers were below. As we got close the trueinwardness of It became apparent to me; but the mariners did not seem torealize till the very last. This is, after all, not strange, for noneof them had either knowledge or experience in Occult matters, whereas forover thirty years I have made a special study of this subject, and havegone to and fro over the earth investigating to the nth all records ofSpiritual Phenomena. As I could see from their movements that theofficers did not comprehend that which was so apparent to myself, I tookcare