THE FLYING DUTCHMAN-SEA LORE OR FACT?

[Graveyard Hound]

Sponsor Messages

This well knoow "phantom ship legacy involves a rash oath or punishment for sins or evil. It is supposedly the best known of all the "phantom ships legends.

It has several variations. In the Dutch version, the captain, named van Stratten was a stubborn man who vowed to sail around the Cape of Storms, known as the Cape of Good Hope in bad weather. The ship was southernmost tip of Africa, the ship was lost, and as a result, the ship, its crew of dead men and the dead captain were condemned to sail the spot forever.Their phantom vessel reportedly can be seen at the cape in stormy weather, and it is an omen of disaster.

The German version is that the captain is known as von Falkenburg, and he sails in the North Sea. In this tale, the devil visited periodically and engages tthe captain in a game of dice on deck, playing for the captain's soul, as well as those of the crew, and ship. The captain eventually looses the game, his soul, and that of the crew and becommes of of the phantom condemned. to sail the seas forever, always predicting storms to those that see tthe ship.

---

The notion of picking one time of the year to be decent to other people is obscene because it's actually validating the notion of being miserable wretches the rest of the year.

[vzy4kat6387]

I've never heard of the flying Dutchman. Honestly I think the Germen story is silly. Where the captain played a game, lost so the devil took his soul and his crew lol.

The Dutch version sounds true, the way they tell it is they got lost and died probably from starvation and dehydration. And as rough as the ocean waters can get it is believable that the ship would still be floating around, though you would think the wood would rot by now, either way I find myself believing the Dutch version.

Speaking of the flying Dutchman, it reminds me of Spongebob Squarepants lol

[CO.Unexplained.Investigators]

That would be kool to actually try to go and see if its true.

[Bracket]

vzy

You've never heard of the Flying Dutchman?

[geogirlforever]

(02-17-2010 08:46 PM)vzy4kat6387 Wrote:  I've never heard of the flying Dutchman. Honestly I think the Germen story is silly. Where the captain played a game, lost so the devil took his soul and his crew lol.

The Dutch version sounds true, the way they tell it is they got lost and died probably from starvation and dehydration. And as rough as the ocean waters can get it is believable that the ship would still be floating around, though you would think the wood would rot by now, either way I find myself believing the Dutch version.

Speaking of the flying Dutchman, it reminds me of Spongebob Squarepants lol

Yep, same here never heard it before....

Same here, i love watching spongebob.

[CareTaker]

the flying Dutchman is a VERY famous and very old legend. Personally I believe a lot of different stories and encounters have been combined to form the mythos we have today.

The flying dutchman even appears in The Pirates of the Caribbean

Wikipedia Wrote:The Flying Dutchman, according to folklore, is a ghost ship that can never go home, doomed to sail the oceans forever. The Flying Dutchman is usually spotted from far away, sometimes glowing with ghostly light. It is said that if hailed by another ship, its crew will try to send messages to land or to people long dead. In ocean lore, the sight of this phantom ship is a portent of doom.

Versions of the story are numerous in nautical folklore and related to medieval legends such as Captain Falkenburg, who was cursed to ply the North Sea until Judgment Day, playing dice with the Devil for his own soul.

The first reference in print to the ship itself appears in Chapter VI of George Barrington's Voyage to Botany Bay (1795):

I had often heard of the superstition of sailors respecting apparitions, but had never given much credit to the report; it seems that some years since a Dutch man of war was lost off the Cape of Good Hope, and every soul on board perished; her consort weathered the gale, and arrived soon after at the Cape. Having refitted, and returning to Europe, they were assailed by a violent tempest nearly in the same latitude. In the night watch some of the people saw, or imagined they saw, a vessel standing for them under a press of sail, as though she would run them down: one in particular affirmed it was the ship that had foundered in the former gale, and that it must certainly be her, or the apparition of her; but on its clearing up, the object, a dark thick cloud, disappeared. Nothing could do away the idea of this phenomenon on the minds of the sailors; and, on their relating the circumstances when they arrived in port, the story spread like wild-fire, and the supposed phantom was called the Flying Dutchman. From the Dutch the English seamen got the infatuation, and there are very few Indiamen, but what has some one on board, who pretends to have seen the apparition.[1]


source - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_Dutchman

[Andrasta]

Here is a scientific explanation of what goes on when the Flying Dutchman is spotted:

Quote:Despite the descriptions of ghoulish glows and the like, scientists have offered a more, well, scientific explanation. Called Fata Morgana (named for the legendary sorceress half-sister of King Arthur), the mirage would occur when warm air rested (in calm weather) right above dense, cold air near the surface of the ocean (though the effect also takes place on the ground in mountainous regions). The air between these two masses acts as a refracting lens, which will produce an upside-down, distorted image of the upright object within these masses of air. Even though a ship may be beyond the horizon, the observing ship may see an inverted, blurry image of the "mirage ship". The mirage ship could appear several times larger than its actual size, it may appear much closer, and the colors (due to the sun's position) may be distorted.

Source

[lightkeeper]

The Flying Dutchman is the most famous of the phanthom ships , but there are others worldwide. Mostly all are considered omens of doom to the sailors who site them.
Henry Hudson's ship the Half Moon is said to roam the Arctic.
The Griffon was a ship built by the French explorers that is sometimes called the Flying Dutchman of the Great Lakes.

[super.fantastik]

I've heard of this~but I never knew the whole story...
so thanks for the info guys!^^

but I always wonder why ships are called "her" rather than "him"..lol
like even in Pirates of the Caribbean they refer to the Black Pearl as just "her" or "she"?_?

I work with modern day boats, some fancy, or sporty...but they all give off a manly feel to me, even if I think "pretty" when I see them. lol

[CMF]

The only women allowed on the ocean were the ships....
Perhaps they thought the ship would get jealous and they would have bad luck.

I find it hard to believe that anyone older than 12 hasnt heard of the Flying Dutchman, and due to SpongeBob thats being generous .lol