I have heard that my father had a number of stories to relate of
supernatural (as they are usually termed) incidents that had occurred to
him, but I will content myself with relating such as were proved to be
(at the least) very remarkable coincidences. In my work, "The Life and
Letters of Captain Marryat," I relate an anecdote of him that was
entered in his private "log," and found amongst his papers. He had a
younger brother, Samuel, to whom he was very much attached, and who died
unexpectedly in England whilst my father, in command of H. M. S.
_Larne_, was engaged in the first Burmese war. His men broke out with
scurvy and he was ordered to take his vessel over to Pulu Pinang for a
few weeks in order to get the sailors fresh fruit and vegetables. As my
father was lying in his berth one night, anchored off the island, with
the brilliant tropical moonlight making everything as bright as day, he
saw the door of his cabin open, and his brother Samuel entered and
walked quietly up to his side. He looked just the same as when they had
parted, and uttered in a perfectly distinct voice, "Fred! I have come to
tell you that I am dead!" When the figure entered the cabin my father
jumped up in his berth, thinking it was some one coming to rob him, and
when he saw who it was and heard it speak, he leaped out of bed with the
intention of detaining it, but it was gone. So vivid was the impression
made upon him by the apparition that he drew out his log at once and
wrote down all particulars concerning it, with the hour and day of its
appearance. On reaching England after the war was over, the first
dispatches put into his hand were to announce the death of his brother,
who had passed away at the very hour when he had seen him in the cabin.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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