Professional journalists are not supposed to start their reports with “legend has it” because “legend has it” suggests we don’t have all the facts, and that what you’re about to read has not been verified.
Sometimes, however, one has no choice but to use the phrase, especially when the main subject of a bizarre story died 199 years ago.
Plus, this is a cool tale from the crypt, a runup to Halloween, and I wouldn’t want to spoil it with anything that might diminish its legendary status.
So let’s get to it: The Legend of the Swinging Sailor of Perryman.
Legend has it that John Clark Monk, a British-born sea captain who lived in Harford County in the early 19th Century, made an unusual and specific request of his friends and family: When he died, he did not want his body or casket touching land in any way.
Captain Monk, it is said, loved the sea and wanted no part of Earth in eternal rest. So, after his death at age 67 in 1827, Captain Monk’s crew arranged to have his casket suspended by chains inside his crypt in an Episcopal graveyard in Perryman.
The legend is even a little better than that. Supposedly, his crew or family had Monk wrapped in sailcloth — or a leaden shroud, depending on which detail you prefer — and the sailcloth soaked in rum before putting his body inside a boat-shaped coffin. (Another version of the legend: His crew filled his casket with rum before depositing the captain inside.) They then hung the coffin from a stone slab, about two feet above the vault floor. One imagines Captain Monk sleeping eternally belowdecks like a sailor in a hammock.
Wait, there’s more.
Captain Monk had two wives. The first came to America with him from England and preceded him in death. She and the captain’s second wife were interred in the sarcophagus above his hanging coffin.
And so The Legend of the Swinging, or Hanging, Sailor of Perryman was born. It gained some attention with the 2006 publication of the book “Weird Maryland” by Matt Lake. The swinging captain’s tomb — located at historic Spesutia Church, St. George Parish, Perryman — has attracted numerous visitors over the years.
The church closed in 2012. The Monk gravesite has been in need of serious maintenance for years.
It’s about to get some.
A.R. Marani, a Baltimore-based contractor experienced in historic renovations and additions, will start work on the crypt on October 12 with help from Carson & Gray masons; Nathan Nardi, a cemetery specialist; Hilgartner Natural Stone Co., and Katherine Ahlrichs, a Towson University anthropological archaeologist. Ahlrichs, an associate professor, is director of the Baltimore Community Archaeology Lab at Towson; her students will be involved in the Monk project.
Andrew Marani, a principal in the company with his brother, Alan, says his team will open Captain Monk’s grave and the above-ground sarcophagus, remove the human remains — they will use supports to keep the captain off the ground while out of the vault — and repair the site. The intent is to “put things back the way they were, ready for another 200 years.”
That means adding beams to the crypt to make sure Captain Monk can once again swing in the great beyond. Marani intends to leave a bottle of rum for the ancient mariner. Nice touch.
In the process of all this, we hope the team will be able to separate facts from legend and settle some questions: Was the captain soaked in rum? Was his coffin really shaped like a boat? Was it really suspended by chains?
Of course, we hope it’s all true.
But, if not, I have a feeling The Legend of the Swinging Sailor of Perryman will live on.
Dan Rodricks writes weekly for Baltimore Fishbowl. He can be reached via danrodricks.com
