It may not be the only ghost ship legend, but it is the most famous and compelling. Numerous sightings of The Flying Dutchman have been reported since the ship’s story was first popularized in the 17th century, including one by a future king of England.
The Flying Dutchman’s story describes a European ship that’s doomed to sail the sea for all of eternity. The ship is considered a terrible omen if seen at sea, signaling some upcoming doom for other ships and sailors unlucky enough to see the vision.
Depending on the story, the ship was captained by a Dutchman named Hendrick Van der Decken or perhaps Captain Falkenberg, who may have been trying to sail through the North Sea or around the Cape of Good Hope. Hendrick Van der Decken is described as gambling his life and his soul, for a good trip but is then condemned to sail that course for the rest of time. On the other hand, Captain Falkenberg played dice for his soul with the devil, some stories state. No matter which version of the story is told, the devil or some other horror is involved, as are the deaths of everyone on board and the ship’s perpetual trip through the ocean waters.
In some iterations of the story, a captain by the name of Bernard Fokke, from Holland, is the captain of the ship. Rumors circulated around him during his lifetime, suggesting that he had sold his soul to the devil due to the speed with which he traveled from the Netherlands to Java.
No matter how far-fetched or believable a legend seems, there are always those who claim earnestly or manipulatively to have seen or taken part in it. This is no different for sightings of the ghost ship The Flying Dutchman. One of the most famous sightings occurred in 1880 by the future King George V, who claims to have seen the Flying Dutchman cross the bow of his ship while at sea in his adolescence. His log entry reads:
A strange red light as of a phantom ship all aglow, in the midst of which light the masts, spars and sails of a brig 200 yards distant stood out in strong relief as she came up on the port bow, where also the officer of the watch from the bridge clearly saw her, as did the quarterdeck midshipman, who was sent forward at once to the forecastle; but on arriving there was no vestige nor any sign whatever of any material ship was to be seen either near or right away to the horizon, the night being clear and the sea calm.
He goes on to say that altogether thirteen people saw the vessel and that the man who reported the ship fell from the top of the “foretopmast crosstrees onto the topgallant forecastle” and died the next morning.
The Origins of the Flying Dutchman Legend
The first reference, in print, to the story of the Flying Dutchman is found in Travels in various part of Europe, Asia and Africa during a series of thirty years and upward. It was written by John MacDonald in 1790 and reads:
The weather was so stormy that the sailors said they saw the Flying Dutchman.The common story is that this Dutchman came to the Cape in distress of weather and wanted to get into harbour but could not get a pilot to conduct her and was lost and that ever since in very bad weather her vision appears.
This excerpt suggests the basics of the story that many were likely already aware of. A ship in distress, lost lives, and a vision is seen in the distance. These are all elements that pop up whenever the story is told. Five years later, there’s another commonly referenced mention of the ship. In A Voyage to Botany Bay, the author, George Barrington, describes the ship and his misapprehensions regarding the story’s veracity. He states that he’s heard of the ship but “never given much credit to the report.” He also mentions the ship disappearing, the souls perishing, and sailors believing they’d seen a ship perusing them through a storm that they claimed to recognize as the Dutchman.
Other literary references to the ship, such as that from Thomas Moore and Sir Walter Scott, describe the vessel in poems. Moore wrote about a ghost ship written on passing Deadman’s Island in the Gulf of St. Lawrence Late in the evening, September 1804. He noted that the poem’s lines came from the common superstition regarding ‘the flying Dutch-man.’ Sir Walter Scott wrote in Rokeby; a poem,that the ship was “loaded with great wealth” and that some horrific act had been committed on board. Seeing the ship is considered, he said, to be the “worst of all possible omens.”
The story of The Flying Dutchman was first printed in May of 1821 in Edinburgh Magazine. It placed the vents in the Cape of Good Hope and used Hendrick Van der Decken as the captain of the vessel.
The Flying Dutchman in Popular Culture
Over the last century, stories depicting the Flying Dutchman have become more popular. These include a cartoon version of Scooby-Do as well as SpongeBob SquarePants. The ship appeared in a 1967 episode of the Spider-Man cartoon and in the well-loved Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, released in 2006.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge was likely inspired to write The Rime of the Ancient Marinerin part due to the popularity of ghostship stories. Several elements of the poem, such as the dice game, are directly connected to the legends. Many other poems, plays, novels, films, and television series have taken their inspiration from this famous legend. There is a great deal of creative space to be explored due to the details’ vague and changing nature, allowing storytellers the freedom to add and play with the subject matter.
Lesson Summary. The Flying Dutchman is a European maritime legend about a phantom ship condemned to sail forever. Dutch folklore designates the captain as Hendrik Vander Decken, whose mission is to find the Cape of Good Hope. However, a freak storm thwarted the captain, and he could reach his destination.
The Flying Dutchman can only be defeated by destroying all four cannons. Several Flying Dutchmen can appear during a single Pirate Invasion, or none at all. They only appear when the event progress has passed 50%, and where there is at least 40×30 tiles space.
With every year that passes, the crewmen become less human, their bodies taking on traits from the sea, until eventually they become part of the Flying Dutchman itself. After Jones' own death, the crew turned back to normal, with Will Turner as the new captain of the Dutchman.
Dalma reveals to Jack's crew that the key goes to the Dead Man's Chest, which contains Davy Jones' heart. Determined to retrieve the key, Will joins Jack's crew in finding the Flying Dutchman, where Will soon finds himself stranded on a wrecked vessel that Jack deviously claimed was Jones' ghost ship.
The Flying Dutchman (Dutch: De Vliegende Hollander) is a legendary ghost ship, allegedly never able to make port, but doomed to sail the sea forever. The myths and ghost stories are likely to have originated from the 17th-century Golden Age of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) and of Dutch maritime power.
The Flying Dutchman was a sea captain who once found himself struggling to round the Cape of Good Hope during a ferocious storm. He swore that he would succeed even if he had to sail until Judgment Day. The Devil heard his oath, and took him up on it; the Dutchman was condemned to stay at sea forever.
The person who stabs the heart must be the captain, and so if he stabs his own heart, there would be no captain. Will Turner is freed from the curse but it is heavily implied that Davy Jones has been ressurected to captain the Flying Dutchman.
In the most common version, the captain, Vanderdecken, gambles his salvation on a rash pledge to round the Cape of Good Hope during a storm and so is condemned to that course for eternity; it is this rendering which forms the basis of the opera Der fliegende Holländer (1843) by the German composer Richard Wagner.
Unfortunately, seeing the ship is also said to be an omen of bad fortune and death. The story of The Flying Dutchman has prevailed through the centuries, and has even made its way into popular culture. Some notable encounters (or retellings) of the spooky ship include…
As the series progresses, it is revealed that as Calypso, she became romantically involved with Davy Jones, and their mutual betrayal is what led to both of their transformations. Calypso had charged Davy Jones with ferrying souls of the dead, promising to meet with him again in ten years.
Previously, Davy Jones had raised the Black Pearl from the sea for Sparrow, in exchange for Sparrow's soul after captaining the Pearl for 13 years. Attempting to get out of the situation, Sparrow argues that he was the captain for only two years before Hector Barbossa committed mutiny.
The Black Pearl (formerly known as the Wicked Wench) is a fictional ship in the Pirates of the Caribbean film series. In the screenplay, the ship is easily recognized by her distinctive black hull and sails. Captained by Captain Jack Sparrow, the Black Pearl is said to be "nigh uncatchable".
He was freed from the curse and reunited with his family approximately two decades later when his son Henry broke the Trident of Poseidon in 1751, ending all curses of the sea.
In response, Bootstrap was tied to a cannon and thrown overboard by Barbossa, eternally drowning but unable to die because of the curse. He was left to suffer at the bottom of the ocean.
Once a man, Jones was tasked by his lover, the goddess Calypso (or Tia Dalma), with ferrying the souls of those who died at sea to the afterlife. When he took on this task, he was forbidden from setting foot on land aside from every ten years, when he would finally be reunited with his love– but she never showed.
The subway car itself, endlessly traveling the same course, is symbolic of "The Course of History." Another layer of the title's symbolism is the myth of the Flying Dutchman, a ghost ship which, much like the subway car Clay rides on, endlessly sails on with a crew that is unable to escape the confines of the vessel.
The Flying Dutchman is a mythic figure who is condemned to roam the world, never resting, never bringing his ship to port, until Judgement Day. Cursed by past crimes, he is forbidden to land and sails from sea to sea, seeking a peace which forever eludes him. The Dutchman created his own destiny.
Fata Morgana not only produce mirror images, but can magnify objects that lie beyond the horizon. Ships can therefore be below the horizon but their reflected light is distorted to such an extent that they appear to be 'sailing' in the sky. This is the likely explanation of the Flying Dutchman.
While most people agree the “history” of the ship is a legend, the Flying Dutchman has been sighted by reliable witnesses. All of these were in the Cape of Good Hope area: 1823: Captain Owen, HMS Leven, recorded two sightings in the log.
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