Eurydice Footage???

"Ghost Ship Sighted and Filmed

Edward, son of Britain's monarch, believes he has seen a ghost ship.

The 34-year-old told yesterday [Oct 16] how he spotted the phantom galleon while filming the second of his Crown and Country TV series on the Isle of Wight. Edward was telling the story of HMS Eurydice, a 26-gun frigate which capsized and sank in Sandown Bay during a blizzard in 1878.

He said: "We were talking about a ghost ship on the Isle of Wight and how we could illustrate this three-masted schooner that just disappears. Suddenly someone said 'Look, there's one now,' and sure enough out to sea there was a three-masted schooner. It was not arranged by us. It simply appeared.

"Someone said 'We'll wait until it gets a little closer to the shoreline' and then come the moment, someone else said 'Where's it gone? ' We looked and it had disappeared."

The prince added: "I am quite convinced as far as ghosts are concerned that there are too many stories, coincidences, occurrences and strange happenings. There is something definitely out there, but what it is I don't really know.

"I cannot believe it is just some people's imagination. There is more in it than that. I have never met a ghost, but I have always wanted to meet a ghost. There is only one way to find out whether they really do exist."

Edward's film crew captured the ghost ship on video after the sighting last May. And in another strange twist, the tape jammed in the machine when they went to view it. The programme's director, Robin Bextor, said last night: "Edward was doing a piece to camera near Chine, on the Isle of Wight, when someone spotted this ship.

"We filmed it for a while, then decided to wait so we would catch it sailing off into the horizon. We assumed it was a training vessel. Like the rest of us, Edward was pleased at our stroke of luck at seeing it because it saved us time and money getting footage of something similar. We were packing up the cameras and took our eyes off it for a few minutes, but when we went to film it again, it had gone."

Edward spoke of the sighting during a briefing in Portsmouth yesterday about the new ITV series. The ghost ship will be seen in the October 27 programme.

The sinking of the Eurydice, with the loss of more than 300 lives, was seen by the young Winston Churchill, who was visiting the Isle of Wight with his nurse. They watched from a clifftop as the ship capsized. There have been several other sightings of a three-masted vessel off the Isle of Wight where many ships have gone down. Retired teacher Robin Ford, 57, from Ventnor, spotted the eerie form of a galleon during a beach barbecue with friends. He said: "It moved slowly towards the shore, then it just seemed to up-end and slipped silently out of view."

Last night, sailing ship enthusiasts added to the mystery by saying they knew of no vessel in the area at the time Edward saw the ghost ship.

Hilary Painter, of the Sail Training Association at Portsmouth, said: "We have two training ships that sound like that, but on that particular week they were both away."

Becky Lacey, of the Jubilee Sailing Trust at Southampton said: "We have a three-masted square rigger called the Lord Nelson, but she was in Newcastle that week."

Barbara Hoyle, of the Sea Cadet Corps at Gosport, added: "We have the Royalist, which is a two-masted square rig brig, but she was not at sea that week."


(Source: The Mirror - Oct 17 1998)



Does anyone have a copy or know of a copy of this supposed footage? If so can a link be provided?