This one happened during my training attachment in a cargo ship(1976). It happened in the middle of the Indian Ocean (2245hrs).

I was with two senior engineers in the engine room at that time. While we were working on the spare engine in the 4th level (down), the chief engineer suddenly shouted and pointed to the second level and said “Fxxk! What the kid doing in here”. We were all stunt for the moment. Being the most junior in rank at that time I rushed upwards to chase the boy out of the engine room. As I move forward, he started to run upward. I can see that this boy was about 8 yrs old of mix blood type(fair negro). As the faster I run, it seem he can out run me! Then when I saw him exit from the engine room, I move back down to where I was.

As I approach the 4th level(down), I saw both my seniors were badly shaken and their face quite pale. I just shouted to them that the boy is already out of the engine room. They did’nt respond for a moment and when I was just beside them, the second engineer said “Where that kid’s come from?”. Then we look at each other and for a moment, there were goose pimples everywhere!! Hahaha!….You see, we were on board a cargo ship in the middle of the ocean and is not possible for a 8 yrs old kid to be around unless he is a storeaway! This is what we thought.

So soon after we finished our work, we were back in the mess room for coffee. There were conversation all over the place that foreman Daniel had just seen a ghost!. So we summon foreman Daniel over to find out what happened in details. He told us that while he was walking on the deck towards the stern direction, he saw a boy (same one we saw earlier) running. He gave chase and as he was chasing the boy, the boy grew smaller & smaller until he was about one foot tall and then he disappeared in front of his eyes!. When I heard what foreman Daniel said, it remind me not to leave home without my Holy Bible.
[Posted at: Experience Onboard A Vessel]