The Ghost Ship

I have read several versions of this story.   They are all very similar but vary slightly in the details.  Every version of the story has the same ending and carries with it haunting images of ghost ships and skeleton crews.  I'm describing my favorite version of this story.

In 1812, there were two young sailors named Charles Jose and George Leverett.  The sailors were friends, but a woman came between them.  The woman's name was Sarah Soule and both men fell madly in love with this beauty the first time they glimpsed her.   Their friendship quickly turned to rivalry and hatred as the two men each wooed the lovely Sarah.  As is always the case, only one man won the heart and hand of the beautiful Sarah and the other was sent off to brood and mourn.  George was the luckier of the two.  He married Sarah and his love for his wife was so great that he named his ship, Sarah, after his wife.

The ship was doomed from the beginning.  One night, when the ship was out to sea, the crew of the Sarah noticed they were being followed by a dark ship.  Leverett tried desperately to shake the dark ship that was chasing him, but the dark ship was faster.   Charles Jose and his black ship quickly overtook the Sarah.  They boarded the ship and killed every member of Leverett's crew.    Charles thought death was too easy for George, however.  Charles wanted George to suffer as he had suffered.  He wanted him to die slowly and to feel true hopelessness.  So Charles bound Charles to the mast of the ship and set the ship adrift deep at sea.  He set him adrift so far out to sea that there was no chance of George every being found or rescued.

Leverett quickly lost hope.  He couldn't escape his bonds and he had no idea where he had been left.  He knew death would come for him.  However, the death that came for him wasn't the death he expected.   Slowly, the corpses of his murdered crew rose up from the floor.   They rose up and took control of the ship and guided it to Harpswell, Maine.  Those who saw the ship come to shore, describe a ship full of ghosts  coming into shore in the fog.    The ghosts said nothing.  They set Leverett safely ashore and returned to the ship.  A heavy fog drifted in as the ghosts boarded their ship and when the fog had lifted, the ship was gone.  The Sarah and her crew were never seen again.