Flying Dutchman

The Flying Dutchman is a ghost ship that, according to legend, supposedly appears to sailors as a sign that some tragedy is about to occur. There are many variations of the story of the ship’s origins, though in most versions the ship was said to be captained by a Dutchman who sailed around Cape Horn, the southern tip of South America, during a tremendous storm despite the passionate objections of his crew. In one version of this story, as the sailors prayed for divine help, a spirit appeared and the captain cursed it, then fired several shots at it. In another version, the spirit appeared after the captain said that even God could not sink his ship; the captain then told the spirit to leave and tried to shoot it (but his gun blew up instead of firing), whereupon the spirit cursed the captain and his ship. In either case, the ship was doomed to an eternity of sailing the seas and, according to some stories, of bringing misfortune to all who see it. For centuries, sailors have reported seeing the Flying Dutchman right before a tragedy. For example, on July 11, 1881, thirteen crewmen on a British warship, including Prince George (later King George V) of England and his brother Prince Albert Victor, saw a phantom ship with a strange red glow approach the port bow and then suddenly vanish. The royal brothers later wrote in their journal that they believed the apparition to be the Flying Dutchman, particularly since after the sighting a lookout on their ship fell to his death from a mast, and the admiral commanding the ship died of a mysterious illness.

SEE ALSO:

• Curses
• Ghost ships and trains

SOURCE:

The Greenhaven Encyclopedia of Paranormal Phenomena – written by Patricia D. Netzley © 2006 Gale, a part of Cengage Learning