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Flying Dutchman
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The
Flying Dutchman is a mythical ghost ship
that legend says is destined to sail the
oceans forever without making port. People
who reportedly saw the Flying Dutchman, in
the 19th and 20th centuries, stated that it
emitted a ghostly light. According to the
legend, if the Flying Dutchman is seen, it
spells disaster for those who saw it.
The
Earliest Version of the Flying Dutchman Myth
The earliest version of the Flying Dutchman
myth dates to the 18th century and is likely
to have emerged from the successful era of
the Dutch East India Company. This version,
in a book by John MacDonald, states that the
Flying Dutchman was a ship that couldn’t get
a pilot to guide her into port during bad
weather and was lost. He goes on to say that
ever since that incident, a vision of the
Flying Dutchman appears in very bad weather.
Flying
Dutchman and the Cape of Good Hope
A slightly later version in a book by George
Barrington, dated 1795, tells the story of a
Dutch man of war that was lost with all
hands in a gale off the Cape of Good Hope.
Her consort survived the gale however, when
returning around the Cape, she was caught in
another storm and some of the sailors on
night watch reported seeing the lost ship
sailing towards them as if it would run them
down. When the storm abated the ship
disappeared. Following the arrival of the
ship in port, the story of the phantom ship
spread and it became known as the Flying
Dutchman.
The
Legend of the Flying Dutchman Grows
As the years passed by, the Flying
Dutchman began to appear in more literary
works with many adding their own
embellishments to the legend. John Leydon
wrote that the crew of the Flying Dutchman
were guilty of a dreadful crime, and Sir
Walter Scott referred to the Flying Dutchman
as a ship that had originally been loaded
with great wealth, but that a horrid act of
murder and piracy had taken place on her.
Captains of the Flying Dutchman
17th Century Frisian born Bernard Fokke,
who was a captain for the Dutch East India
Company, is seen by some as the origin for
the captain of the Flying Dutchman. Fokke
was famed for the speed of his voyages
between the Dutch Republic and Java. His
speed led to speculation that he was in
league with the devil. An early story of the
myth of the Flying Dutchman appeared in
Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine in May 1821.
In this story the captain of the Flying
Dutchman was named as Captain Hendrick Van
der Decken.
King George V and the Flying
Dutchman
The Flying Dutchman was seen by
the future
King George V, Prince
George of Wales and his elder
brother Prince Albert Victor of
Wales while on a three year voyage
with their tutor. The Princes were
aboard HMS Inconstant in the Bass
Strait between Melbourne and Sydney,
Australia, when one of the Princes recorded
in his log that on July 11, 1881, at
4am the Flying Dutchman crossed
their bows. The log entry tells of a
strange red light, all aglow as of a phantom
ship, as well as describing
the masts, spars and sails of a brig
coming up on the port bow, where the
mythical ship was also seen by the
Officer of the Watch, who was located on the
bridge. Flying Dutchman was also
seen by the quarterdeck midshipman
who went to the forecastle but saw
nothing on his arrival there. The
log then tells how the ordinary
seaman, who had reported the Flying
Dutchman, was killed later that
morning when he fell from the
foretopmast crosstrees.
Explanations for the Sightings of
the Flying Dutchman
The most likely explanation for the
various sightings of the Flying
Dutchman is optical illusions.
Mirages, Fata Morgana, Looming and
other optical phenomena can all have
led to the sightings believed to
have been this mythical ship.
Flying Dutchman in Paint
Many artists have created paintings
depicting the Flying Dutchman
including American illustrator
Howard Pyle, whose painting is on
display at the Delaware Art Museum,
and American painter Albert Ryder
whose painting is displayed in the
Smithsonian American Art Museum in
Washington D.C.
Flying Dutchman in Film and
Television
The Flying Dutchman has appeared in
many cartoons and television series
as both a ship and a man. Among
these programs is Scooby Doo,
Spider-Man, SpongeBob SquarePants,
The Simpsons, Voyage to the Bottom
of the Sea and Fantasy Island. In
the 1951 film Pandora and the Flying
Dutchman, the Flying Dutchman is a
man, while in the film Pirates of
the Caribbean Dead Man’s Chest, the
Flying Dutchman is a ship whose
characteristics were inspired by the
legend.
Other Adaptations of the Flying
Dutchman
The Flying Dutchman has been adapted
for use in numerous books, plays,
operas, musical pieces, and video
games. These include: The Rime of
the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor
Coleridge, which gives a description
of a ghost ship which resembles the
Flying Dutchman; John Boyle
O’Reilly’s The Flying Dutchman,
Brian Jacques’ Castaways of the
Flying Dutchman, the opera The
Flying Dutchman by Richard Wagner,
the song Flying Dutchman by Jethro
Tull, a reference to the Flying
Dutchman in Jimmy Buffett’s
Remittance Man and Flying Dutchman
appears as a warship in the video
game Warship Battle 3D.
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