Ghost Ships – Part I – The Flying Dutchman

Specters…derelicts…illusions…curses…I’ve plundered a few spooky ships to share with ye, so let’s set sail…

The Flying Dutchman

I’ll start with one that you’ve likely heard about: The Flying Dutchman is a legendary ghost ship that is considered to be a harbinger of doom. There are at least a couple of versions of how this ship became a ghost ship. While the name of the ship (before it became a ghost ship) is unconfirmed and the captain’s name changes from tale to tale, it is generally accepted that the ship was…surprise!…Dutch. She was probably a merchant ship that sailed the trade routes of the Dutch East India merchant company.

The specifics of her tragic end vary in detail, but the gist is that the ship was caught (or about to be) caught in a wicked storm near the Cape of Good Hope, waaay down at the southern tip of the African continent. However, the ship (again, the reason varies) is unable to make safe harbor, neither at a port or a sheltered area. Some say that the captain was a twisted man and cursed the ship because of his wickedness; other tales say that the crew was equally evil and therefore the sea finally turned against them. Another version reports that the ship simply could not get a pilot boat to aid them in making safe harbor. Whatever the reason, the impending storm broke and smashed them. The ship, left to the mercy of the powerful storm, sank, leaving no survivors.

Sightings of the ghost ship began not long after the sinking, but these were just ominous rumours that slowly grew into legend. We don’t know (for certain) when the ship was dubbed, The Flying Dutchman, but the first written use comes from 1790. After that, there are several publications, (books focused on world travel), that include the name, The Flying Dutchman.

These “documented” sightings, (documented as in someone wrote the recollection down on paper), beginning with the one in 1790, have continued throughout the centuries. Both literature and published personal journals have included encounters with The Flying Dutchman. Most recently in pop culture, a variation of the ship legend was included in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, Dead Man’s Chest and At World’s End.

The Flying Dutchman is reportedly seen most often near where she went down, off the coast of the Cape of Good Hope. If you hail the ship, the crew may try to send messages to long dead family and friends on shore, apparently unaware that they themselves are wraiths on a ghost ship and that hundreds of years have passed.

Seeing the ship is thought to be a warning for impending disaster. Basically, if you see The Flying Dutchman as yer sailin’, yer about to sail into some shyte.

Sidenote: I haven’t come across any actual disasters that have followed a sighting, though. (Still plunderin’ that…will report back if anything of interest is found.)

More next time on Ghost Ships…The Octavius