The Flying Dutchman Mystery: Ghost Ship Legends

Originating in the eighteenth century, the most common version of the Flying Dutchman story recounts a cursed ship, doomed to sail the oceans for eternity, never able to make port.

It’s said that the ship’s captain, commonly known as ‘Hendrik’ but sometimes referred to as ‘Willem’ or ‘Phillip’ Van der Decken (also known by variations such as Vanderdecken or Vanderstraaten), defied nature’s fury by stubbornly challenging a violent storm at the Cape of Good Hope. He vowed to navigate the treacherous waters even if it took him until the end of time. His oath, as the story goes, condemned both him and his ship to an eternal odyssey, doomed to wander the seas for all eternity.

But what of the truth about The Flying Dutchman? Is it a symbol of man’s hubris against the unstoppable forces of nature? Is the story of the ship more of a cautionary tale that goes beyond the literal, perhaps a warning of the consequences of excessive overconfidence, arrogance or obsession? Or was the Flying Dutchman real? And is it true that spotting the Flying Dutchman ghost ship in the open ocean – or trying to make contact with it – brings about a curse?

Let’s set sail on a spooky sea-going sojourn in an attempt to shed some light on the mystery of The Flying Dutchman.

As with all stories passed down through the annals of time, each telling and retelling of the Flying Dutchman myth adds a little or takes something away. The most popular version of the Flying Dutchman story tells of a ship’s captain, commanding a Dutch East India Company ship, making his way back to the Netherlands from the East Indies. Other retellings of the story have the ship sailing from the Netherlands to the East Indies.

As they approached the treacherous waters of the Cape of Good Hope, a fierce storm began to brew. Instead of seeking shelter or changing course, Captain Van der Decken, known for his stubbornness and pride, swore a blasphemous oath, promising to traverse the Cape no matter how long it took.

In some versions, it’s said he challenged God directly, or that he was drunk and in his stupor dismissed the dangers. Whatever his precise defiance, as a result the ship and its crew were cursed. They were doomed to sail the world’s oceans for eternity, never able to make port.

One less commonly told version of the story of the Flying Dutchman ghost ship is that of a Captain Falkenberg. Much of the story is the same as that of Van der Decken – swearing a blasphemous oath, making a pact with the devil or refusing to turn back from dangerous waters – however one specific element in some versions of the Falkenberg tale is his penchant for dice games.

It’s said that during the fateful voyage, he played a game of dice with the devil or a supernatural entity and lost. The stakes of this game were none other than his soul and the fate of his ship. After losing, he and his crew were condemned to sail the seas forever, unable to make port.

It’s believed the story first appeared in print in 1790 in a book written by John MacDonald called Travels in Various Part of Europe, Asia and Africa During a Series of Thirty Years and Upward—

Other literary references come from A Voyage to Botany Bay written in 1795 and attributed to George Barrington, Scenes of Infancy written by John Leyden in 1803, an 1804 poem by Thomas Moore called Written on Passing Dead-Man’s Island in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Late in the Evening, and in the notes to Rokeby: A Poem by Sir Walter Scott written in 1813.

Interestingly, most of these late eighteenth and early nineteenth century accounts refer to the mystery of The Flying Dutchman as a superstition. Later, the story gained widespread recognition in the 1840s in Wagner’s opera The Flying Dutchman. Samuel Coleridge’s The Rime of the Ancient Mariner was said to have been inspired by the story, and in popular culture, the Flying Dutchman ghost ship has been portrayed in paintings, in the theatre, on television and film, in comic books and even in episodes of Scooby-Doo and SpongeBob SquarePants!

While the story of the famous ghost ship is most likely a fable, to many, the truth about The Flying Dutchman is eerily real.

When sailors out on the open seas reported seeing The Flying Dutchman, it was often taken as a warning of a looming storm, impending disaster, or some other form of misfortune. The supposed ghostly apparition, with its spectral glow and phantom crew, was seen as an ill omen, signalling that something malevolent was afoot. In some tales, The Flying Dutchman would try to signal ships, attempting to send messages to the land of the living, often with dire warnings or cryptic messages.

Furthermore, attempting to hail or make contact with The Flying Dutchman was thought to bring about a curse. Sailors believed that interacting with the cursed ship could result in their own vessel suffering a similar fate, becoming doomed to wander the seas forever. In certain versions of the lore, hearing the ghostly crew’s voices or the eerie sounds emanating from the ship would mean certain death or misfortune for those who heard them.

There is no definitive proof the ship exists or ever did, however there have been a number of reported sightings over the centuries.

Perhaps the most notable sighting was reported by Prince George of Wales (who later became King George V) and his elder brother, Prince Albert Victor. They were on a three-year voyage aboard the HMS Bacchante when they allegedly saw the ghostly ship in July 1881.

According to the prince’s logs, the spectral ship appeared during the early hours of the morning, glowing with a strange light. Thirteen crew members, including the officer of the watch, saw the phantom ship. Interestingly, the sailor who first reported the sighting fell from the topmast and died later that day, further cementing the belief that seeing the Flying Dutchman was an omen of doom.

Famous British author Nicholas Monsarrat, known for his maritime writings including The Cruel Sea, described the ghost ship in one of his short stories, further popularising the legend in modern times.

During World War II, German U-boat crews claimed to have seen a mysterious ship resembling The Flying Dutchman in or around the Gulf of Suez and elsewhere. It’s believed Admiral Karl Dönitz said that the crews logged the sightings of the ghost ship.

There are other stories of people on Glencairn Beach in South Africa witnessing an apparition of a ghostly ship disappearing as it was about to crash into the rocks, and various other ships that have claimed to have almost collided with it.

The mystery of The Flying Dutchman has spurred a variety of theories over the years, ranging from the scientifically plausible to the supernatural and outlandish.

Fata Morgana

One of the most plausible explanations is that the sightings of The Flying Dutchman can be attributed to a type of complex, or superior, mirage called a Fata Morgana, the Italian translation of Morgan Le Fay, a sorceress from Arthurian legends, often believed to be a fairy or water nymph responsible for creating mirages over bodies of water.

This optical phenomenon occurs when layers of warm and cold air bend light rays as they pass through different temperatures, often creating distorted or inverted images of distant objects. A ship sailing just beyond the horizon could, under the right conditions, appear to be floating above the water or glowing, potentially resembling the legendary ghost ship.

St Elmo’s Fire

This is a weather phenomenon in which a visible blue or violet glow appears near the end of pointed objects (like the mast of a ship) during thunderstorms or turbulent weather. The phenomenon is caused by a difference in electrical charge and could be mistaken for a ghostly light on a ship.

Supernatural Curse

Sticking close to the traditional narrative, some believe that The Flying Dutchman story is a genuinely cursed ghost ship, damned to sail the seas for eternity as a result of its captain’s defiance or blasphemous acts. This theory lacks any substantive proof and defies our current understanding of physics and reality.

Collective Hallucination

Given the harsh and exhausting conditions of long sea voyages, especially in the past, it’s possible that sailors might have experienced collective hallucinations. Extended periods of isolation, combined with fatigue, malnutrition, or even the consumption of spoiled or tainted food, could lead to shared visual and auditory hallucinations.

Intentional Deception

Sailors, aware of the legend, might have misinterpreted natural phenomena or other ships as The Flying Dutchman, either out of genuine fear or as a form of mass hysteria. In some instances, it could also be a deliberate deception or storytelling for entertainment during long voyages.

Interdimensional Phenomenon

Venturing into the realm of speculative science fiction and modern urban legends, there are suggestions that the ship may be caught in a time loop or an interdimensional rift, appearing and disappearing at intervals and witnessed by sailors from different eras. An entertaining theory but one that lacks any solid evidence.

UFO or Extraterrestrial Activity

Given the ship’s eerie glow and sudden appearance and disappearance, some outlandish theories posit that sightings of the Flying Dutchman might be encounters with UFOs or other extraterrestrial phenomena. Again, there’s no proof of this theory and isn’t consistent with our current knowledge of science and the physical world.

While some of these theories have scientific backing, others are either modern interpretations, purely speculative, or based on personal beliefs. The myth of the Flying Dutchman remains one of the world’s enduring maritime enigmas.

The legend of The Flying Dutchman, with its spectral ship and cursed crew, sails on. Whether viewed through the lens of atmospheric phenomena, psychological factors, or supposed supernatural or otherworldly events, the tales of this phantom vessel underscore the vast mysteries of the sea and the human fascination with the unexplained. As sailors continue to traverse the world’s oceans, the allure of The Flying Dutchman persists, a haunting reminder of the sea’s timeless power to captivate and terrify.