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emilykat-artblog18 · 1 month ago

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Moonshine

Written by AshKatArts20 and Co-Written by Minty M

A TUGS Ghost Story

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Winter had come again to Bigg City Port and Ten Cents, Tillie, and Sunshine were hard at work transporting logs Up River to nearby campsites to be cut up and used for firewood. As it was Tillie’s first time working Up River the two figured they’d take her to see Boomer, on their journey the two Star switchers told her all about him.

“After he was renamed he became a rather unlucky tug”, Ten Cents began,

“Aye strange things happened while we were working with him, while we were transporting him over to Lucky’s one time, the lights went out and we ended up crashing into the dock” Sunshine added with a chuckle,

Tillie chuckled as well, “He certainly sounds like an interesting fellow.”

“Yeah he was, he meant well, but he was miserable because of what his jinx did to us. Captain Starr had him turned into a house boat and since then nothing bad has come from it” Sunshine chipped in.

When they arrived at Boomer’s mooring they were most surprised. Boomer was in such a state: his eyelids drooped as though they were being pulled by little anchors, he looked forlorn, and his eyes darted around as if he was actively searching for something.

“ ‘Ere, what’s going on Boomer?” Ten Cents asked,

Boomer jumped, “Oh Ten Cents, Sunshine, and… who’s this?”

“Oh I’m Tillie,” Tillie introduced,

“What’s happened with you, Boomer, is everything alright?” Sunshine asked.

“No nothing is ok Sunshine, my owners left for a much warmer climate and I swear since then some strange things have been going on.”

“What do you mean?” Ten Cents asked,

“A couple nights I swear I’ve seen a tug pull into my dock with a barge and then leave soon afterwards”, Boomer responded,

“Are you sure it's not the fog playing tricks on you, it can be like that at-”

“I’m for certain of what I saw, my dock is haunted. There’s no two ways about it,” Boomer boomed, “I thought my jinx went away but it hasn’t because I have to deal with this nonsense now”

“Boomer, you can’t be jinxed because there’s no such things as ghosts, we should know. We thought we saw Ghost Tugs, a skeleton of a Galleon rise from the ocean, as well as King Neptune last winter,” Ten Cents began,

“But the ghost tugs turned out to be the White Fleet, the Galleon wasn’t a ghost but an actual ship that had defrosted from an iceberg and wound up in the port, and King Neptune… well I’m sure the fog was only playing with me.” Sunshine added, “Well I can tell you for a fact I’m certain of what I saw,” Boomer retorted, and before anyone could continue to argue with him, Billy Shoepack and Big Mac pulled up along Boomer’s mooring.

“Ello, what are you fellas talkin’ about?” Billy Shoepack queried.

“Aye,” Big Mac scoffed, “We can hear ya arguing fer miles”

“Oh it’s nothing Billy, Boomer claims his dock is haunted but we were just telling him it’s just the fog making him see things.” Ten Cents replied rather dismissively.

Billy Shoepack looked about Boomer’s dock, “And what have you seen, Boomer?

“Well lately, as I’ve told these three, at night a tug would appear departing from near my dock and then disappear into the fog. Sometimes I’d hear the sound of some things colliding into each other accompanied by the sound of splintering wood…” Boomer recounted.

Billy Shoepack thought for a moment, his cheerful smile then turned into a frown, even Big Mac looked rather afraid. “Sounds to me as if you encountered the Moonshine ghost.”

The switchers and Boomer were all perplexed, but Tillie was the first to ask. “What’s the Moonshine ghost?”

“The Moonshine ghost is an urban legend in these parts, surely you must’ve heard about it before.” Billy replied.

“I haven’t” Ten Cents shrugged.

Tillie and Boomer both shook their wheelhouses.

“Oh I have… but it’s been a long time since I’ve heard of it.” Sunshine said, trembling.

“Could you tell us about the Moonshine Ghost?” Tillie puzzled.

“Are you sure you want to hear it, lass?” Big Mac asked carefully, “It could keep ya up at night.”

“I’ve heard plenty of ghost stories before from Tianna, I don’t think this should be any different,” Tillie reassured.

Boomer only rolled his eyes, “Go on then Big Mac, tell us about it.”

“Right, Well… in the start of the nineteen twenties, The Prohibition Act was in full effect. As the name implies, the act prohibited cities from being able to sell alcohol in any form in stores or bars, this included our own Bigg City. Despite the restriction, it didn’t stop amateur independent brewers from making their own liquor and selling them off to private businesses.

To avoid being caught by law enforcement, alcohol was smuggled and delivered incognito. One of the ways alcohol was smuggled was by Tugs. One of these was named William, he was a small tug very similar to that of Sunshine, he was painted dark teal and he barely talked to anyone.

To my understanding, he never socialized because he didn’t want anyone getting incarcerated with him should he get caught. He lived at a dock upriver all by himself where he used to work for a gang of bootleggers, they weren’t the brightest bunch as they would not only use William to smuggle their liquor, but they would also have him deliver them in barges chained to him in Bigg City.

For a time this worked as his owners also had him do regular work around the port during the day, but under the cover of nightfall, with his head lights off, he’d make his rounds of smuggling booze for his manager’s bootleg ring. One winter evening as he was making one of his moonshine runs, Port authority saw him with his barges. The coast guard tried to stop him for questioning, but William wasn’t going to be stopped, he turned hard to stern and headed back upriver to lose the coast guard cutter.

William thought he’d outrun the coast guard as he headed back up river through the fog, but as he continued to travel blindly in the dark he didn’t realize how close to shore he was. His hull ground on some rocks and his barge smashed into him as well causing him to sink. The coast guard didn’t bother trying to arrest him, the sound of shattering glass told them everything they needed and they deserted the scene choosing to instead find the dock where the bootlegging took place, leaving William alone to sink into a watery grave.

Legend has it that William, the Moonshine ghost, still makes his rounds on foggy winter nights, and it's believed where he crashed is cursed as it’s said if you get too close to the shore he sunk, rusty chains would grab hold of you and he’d drag you down to Davy Jones’ locker, and you’ll never be seen again…”

The tugs looked on at Big Mac with wide eyes, Tillie and Sunshine felt chills up their stacks but Ten Cents seemed unmoved.

“Oh my… that was a really scary story, Big Mac. But was it all true? Is the Moonshine Ghost real?” Tillie quizzed.

But before Big Mac could reply, Ten Cents butted in.

“Rubbish Tillie, everyone knows ghost stories aren’t true, they’re just made up to scare younger tugs. Scuttlebutt Pete tells plenty of stories like this and they’re all full of malarkey.” Ten Cents proclaimed.

“Hey, be careful what you say Ten Cents, all ghost stories have some truth in them,” Big Mac cautioned.

Ten Cents groaned, “Whatever Big Mac, but I think we should probably get going. I’ve heard enough ghost stories today, ” Ten Cents turned to port and chugged away.

Sunshine followed after Ten Cents, Tilllie did as well, but she stopped and turned to look at Boomer, “it was nice meeting you Boomer, sorry about all this...”

“Don’t be sorry, I guess bad luck managed to still linger with me” Boomer sighed.

Tillie couldn’t help but pity Boomer’s situation, the thought of the Moonshine Ghost weighed on her mind like an anchor as she caught up with Ten Cents and Sunshine.

“I can’t understand why Big Mac believes ghost stories are real” Ten Cents puzzled

“He’s just superstitious Ten Cents, he believes in a lot of things like legends, including ghosts. He could be onto something though.” Sunshine explained.

Ten Cents scoffed, “If I hadn’t made it clear enough already Sunshine, I don’t believe in ghosts. Have you forgotten what happened last winter?”

“But what if it is real..? I’ve heard plenty of ghost stories back on The Island Of Sodor. Tianna told me how many of the engines that work there have seen spirits all around the island, plenty that appeared on viaducts or even a tunnel. I even heard there was a ghost engine with half a face!” Tillie shivered.

“But have you actually seen those ghosts?” Ten Cents questioned

“Umm… no not really, I’ve only heard the stories but I’ve never encountered them.” Tillie answered

“Then the stories are not true Tillie, honestly all of you need to get that through your wheelhouses that ghosts are not real. There's always a logical explanation behind things that go bump in the night. More often than not it's just the fog playing tricks on us. Now can we just get on with our work and quit with the ghost malarkey?” Ten Cents snapped.

Ten Cents steamed ahead leaving Tillie and Sunshine with much to think about. The day went without a hitch, not a word about ghosts was spoken among my Star switchers. As they headed down the river, Tillie and Sunshine kept their distance from the shores, worried they would pass over the resting spot of the Moonshine Ghost. Ten Cents noticed this and said nothing, shaking his wheelhouse in disapproval. When they pulled up at the Star Pier, Ten Cents hoped to get some rest but I had other ideas…

“Ten Cents, Tillie, Sunshine, the logging camp manager has radioed, there’s one more job for you three, an extra delivery of firewood needs to be transported from the saw mills to the campgrounds down river”.

“Aw Captain Starr we just got back, can’t any of the others do it?” Ten Cents groaned.

“I’m afraid not Ten Cents, Top Hat’s transporting the rail barges, Warrior’s moving steel, and Big Mac’s unloading a tramper, OJ’s at Lucky’s Yard for his annual boiler check up, and Hercules- do I even have to say?”

Ten Cents sighed, “No Captain Starr, I understand”.

“Good, now hop to it you three”.

Ten Cents rolled his eyes, Tillie and Sunshine followed uncomfortably behind. The three headed back up the river, and by the time they reached the dock for the sawmills night had fallen.

“That’s a lot of firewood,” Tillie exclaimed.

“Well the camp grounds do have a lot of cabins, and in this winter, they’ll need as much firewood as they can get. The sooner we deliver this though the sooner we can get back to the Star Pier” Ten Cents replied.

The three tied onto their barges and headed down the river.

The fog gave everything an eerie look, despite having bright running lights, the switchers couldn’t see much ahead of them.

“Stay close beside me, we’ll be less likely to runaground in the fog!” Ten Cents called to Tillie and Sunshine.

Tillie and Sunshine grew tense as soon as Ten Cents mentioned running aground in the fog, but rather than keeping up with Ten Cents they began slowing down until Ten Cents was leading ahead of them.

“What are you doing?!” Ten Cents hollered.

“We’re just trying to… follow you,” Sunshine stuttered.

“Yeah can’t be too close to the river banks,” Tillie added.

“Get back over here, I can’t tell how far from the river banks we are while you two are meandering behind me,” Ten Cents barked.

But it was too late, Ten Cents didn’t see where he was going and grounded himself on some rocks.

Tillie called to him, “Oh no! Ten Cents are you ok?”

“No, get a crane quickly I think I might be holed,” Ten Cents groaned

Then all of a sudden, Ten Cents found himself sliding backwards into the water.

“Help! I’m going under!” Ten Cents cried.

“I’m coming, Ten Cents!” Sunshine responded.

Sunshine got as close as he could and threw a line over to Ten Cents, Ten Cents caught it but it wasn’t just Ten Cents that was sinking, his barge was also getting pulled beneath the water.

“Cast off, Ten Cents!” Sunshine grunted.

“I can’t!” Ten Cents shrieked,

“Quick Tillie, get a line on Ten Cents before he goes under!” Sunshine hollered.

Tillie chugged up beside Sunshine and got a line on Ten Cents, the two switchers pulled with all their might, once Ten Cents was above the water he was able to cut free from his barge, but there was no way of recovering it.

“Thanks guys,” Ten Cents sighed.

Sunshine interrupted, “Don’t thank us yet, Ten Cents. Tillie, get alongside him, we can’t take Ten Cents to Lucky’s yard in front of us.”

“Right away” Tillie affirmed.

The switchers rearranged themselves and hurried down the river to the camp sites, luckily there was a crane nearby so after the firewood was unloaded, Ten Cents was placed onto a barge and Tillie and Sunshine hauled their friend to Lucky’s yard.

After Tillie and Sunshine brought Ten Cents over to Lucky’s yard, they went back to the Star dock, shakened after the incident. Most of the fleet had returned from their jobs

“Where’s Ten Cents?” asked O.J.

Tillie started, “It was the Moonshine Ghost!”

Tillie and Sunshine explained everything,

Top Hat scoffed, “Come on you two, the Moonshine ghost isn’t real.”

“But Big Mac and Billy Shoepack told us about it.” Sunshine interjected.

“The Moonshine Ghost is only a legend, you two,” OJ comforted, “While it is true there were tugs that ran moonshine into the port, there has been no record of any tug grounding on the rocks and sinking. Ten Cents must’ve run aground due to the fog and the current dragged him under.

Tillie and Sunshine thought about all that OJ said, they felt rather foolish thinking the Moonshine Ghost was real. The next day however the two were relieved to find that Ten Cents wasn’t too damaged that evening but surprisingly it was Ten Cents who began apologizing,

“I’m sorry I doubted you two about Big Mac’s story, after what happened last night I don’t think I-”

“No you were right all along Ten Cents” Sunshine interrupted,

“Yeah OJ said the only reason why you were being dragged into the river was because of the strong current. There is no such thing as a Moonshine Ghost,” Tillie added.

Ten Cents blinked, “But… I could’ve sworn last night the waters were calm.”

Sunshine and Tillie paused, then Sunshine noticed something on Ten Cents’ bow.

“Uh Ten Cents, what’s with the glass bottle?” Tillie asked,

“What glass bottle?” Ten Cents was perplexed.

Ten Cents looked down and froze. The three switchers said nothing to each other as they left Lucky’s yard.

I wasn’t pleased with Tillie and Sunshine for not delivering all of their barges, and that day, they had to help the salvage fleet with recovering it from the river channel. Ten Cents, nor the other two switchers, told Big Mac or Billy Shoepack what they experienced, they simply wanted to forget it happened and go along with their work as usual. Though when they went to visit Boomer at Dun Tuggin’, he was no longer there as Billy had moved him to a new mooring Up River.

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I hope everyone loved the story, Happy October and Early Halloween! -Kat 🎃

#this is tugs #bigg city port #tugs ten cents #tugs sunshine #tillietugswitcher #tugs captain star #tugs boomer #tugs big mac #tugs billy shoepack #star tugs #tugs ghost story for October!#this was really a long time coming for this story

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