The article about the ghost in the old Seaforth cemetery reminded retired naval officer Marius “Essie” Esterhuizen of a decades-old ghost story from the dockyards (“A buzz about ghosts”, Echo November 10).
Mr Esterhuizen, who joined the navy in 1953 and lives in Lakeside, said that the ghost sighting occurred soon after the South African Navy took over the dockyard from the Royal Navy in 1957.
It was at night and a “dockyard cop” had been patrolling the dockyard to see if all was in place. Fittingly, the naval policeman was at the “dead end of the dockyard”. Nobody was supposed to be there ,but then he saw a man – dressed in Royal Navy uniform – coming down the gangplank.
“It took him all of 10 seconds to realise it was a ghost. He ran his backside off to get to the gate and got there in record time! “The story took off on the ships – we were all having a very good laugh thinking of the dockyard cop running like hell!
“I hope people will come to light who also remember this story,” he said.
