Adventure, Continuing Series, Musical Poetry, Noir, Original Series, Poetry, Song, Theme Prompt

The Watchman of the Engine Room

Nancy's Notes 🖊️♬

Inspired by Max’s blog, ‘Old Steam Ships’ –
“One of Lake Superior’s Enduring Mysteries”.
I have written a ghost poem/song about
“Old Whitey”, the specter who haunts the
Kamloops, preserved by the frigid water.

© Facebook

This is “Old Whitey” created by Me & Suno

Fifty years the lake kept quiet,
held its tongue and hid its dead,
while up above the searchers scattered,
found only splinters, nothing said.

Twenty-two went down together
in November’s iron grip ….
steel and steam and rivets straining,
the Kamloops lost, a phantom ship.

Then in ’77, lights swept downward,
found her resting, still, intact,
frozen in her final posture,
history preserved, a held-breath fact.

And there below, among the boilers,
where warmth once lived and engines sang,
a shape still drifts on unseen currents ….
soft as smoke, the doorway swang.

© Facebook

No fish have touched him. No decay.
The cold has kept its bitter vow.
Bleached to white by sunless water,
he wears no face …. and yet, somehow,

they say he turns when torchlight finds him,
they say he rises, slow, unbid,
a sailor still at his last station,
guarding what the lake once hid.

Old Whitey, keeper of the engine room,
your watch has lasted half a life ….
do you dream of open water?
Do you long to leave the strife?

Or is this stillness its own mercy ….
no storm, no cold, no fear, no pain ….
just quiet drifting in the darkness,
this crew of one who won’t complain?

Sleep on, then, sailor, in your iron cradle.
The lake that took you keeps you still.
Not every ghost wants resurrection.
Some are content upon the sill

between the world of light and living
and the deep where no one goes ….
a pale sentinel in the darkness,
the last light that the Kamloops shows.

© Facebook


The Legend: Why Divers Say He “Follows” Them: “Old Whitey” has become a famous piece of Great Lakes folklore. Scuba divers who brave the deep, dangerous trek inside the boiler and engine rooms frequently report an eerie phenomenon: the corpse seems to follow them or watch them as they move. Rather than a paranormal haunting, this has a simple explanation in physics. Because the body is floating in a confined underwater space, the wake and water currents generated by a diver’s swim fins disturb the water, causing the preserved corpse to slowly drift and float directly behind them. Out of respect for the deceased and because the wreck sits within the protected waters of Isle Royale National Park, the body has never been removed and remains a permanent resident of the ship.

NAR©2026

SS Kamloops: One of Lake Superior’s Enduring Mysteries

Everything on The Elephant’s Trunk was created by me, unless otherwise indicated, and may not be used without permission. Thanks for your consideration. NAR©2017-present.

31 thoughts on “The Watchman of the Engine Room”

  5. Wonderful creepy atmosphere! Clive mentioned Leonard Cohen…I totally agree! That is the neighborhood for this…sounds great!
    Can you imagine finding the ship in 1977 and exploring it for the first time? You explore the engine room and find him? Geez.
    When I first read about this ship…I thought oh, it’s just another ship ghost story…but no…he is there! It does show you that truth can be stranger than fiction at times. Wonderful Job Nancy as always.

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    1. No question, Max. I knew I had to tell the story of “Old Whitey” and Clive was absolutely right ….. I told Suno I wanted the voice to sound like Leonard Cohen! I was thrilled with the way it turned out. The Kamloops is one of the eeriest ship stories I’ve read so far. Thanks for a great comment and your very kind compliments. I’m having a great time with this series. 🛳️

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      1. Like I told you…I look forward to your take on them just as much as mine. Again, if this was written as a Hollywood script…I would never believe it. It is very eerie…and yes I love the song! It fits the mood perfectly. I also like the divers that go down…they try to keep him out of their pictures out of respect. It’s just very spooky…I would not have wanted to be the first one down there!
        Right now I’m writing about a story on a ship that is half Agatha Christie and half Twilight Zone.

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        1. My first thought was to write a campfire-type ghost story as told by a diver but I really wanted to create a song, so it morphed into a poem. I’m happy it went that way. Agatha Christie has been one of my favorite mystery authors since I was a young girl; I can’t wait to read your story. Have a great Labor Day Weekend, Max!

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