There are so many versions about this story. Some say, this story comes from Holland, meanwhile the others claim that this story comes from a British drama "The Flying Dutchman" (1826) by Edward Fitzball and the novel “Phantom Ship” (1837) by Frederick Marryat, and then adapted into a Holland story “Het Vliegend Schip” (The Flying Ship) by a priest from that country, A. H. C. Römer. Another version, including an opera by Richard Wagner (1841) and “The Flying Dutchman on Tappan Sea” by Washington Irving (1855).
According to some sources, a captain from Holland in 17th century, Bernard Fokke was an example about the captain of that ghost ship. Fokke got his fame from his voyage from Holland to Java with incredible speed and it was suspected that the ship had a connection with the devil to increase its speed. Based on some sources too, the captain was called Falkenburg in the story from Holland. He was called “Van der Decken” (means off the deck) in Marryat’s version and called “Ramhout van Dam” in Irving’s version. The source disagree that “The Flying Dutchman” is the name of a ship or a nickname for the captain.
So many sources mention that the captain promised that he wouldn’t give up in the stormy rain, but he would continue his mission to find Cape of Good Hope even though he had to find it until the end of time. According to some versions, a terrible evil happened, or the crew of the ship was infected by bubonic plague and wasn’t allowed to anchor in all harbors. Then, that ship and all of the crew was punished to sail all the time and never anchored the ship. One version mentions this happened in 1641, and other in 1680 or 1729.
There are so many notes about the similarities between Flying Dutchman and Christian story, The Wandering Jew. Terneuzen (Holland) was mentioned as a house of the legendary Flying Dutchman, Van der Decken, a captain who cursed God and was punished to sail through the sea forever, it was told in a novel by Frederick Marryat “The Phantom Ship” and Richard Wagner’s opera.
Some witnesses of The Flying Dutchman appearance:
1823: Captain Oweb from HMS Leven Ship, saw an empty ship in the ocean twice, one of them could be The Flying Dutchman.
1835: a British ship saw The Flying Dutchman came rapidly but it was gone before hit that British ship.
1879: some crew of SS Petrogia saw that ghost ship.
1881: three of HMS Baccante ship’s crew saw it (in this ship there was King George V that time). The next morning a crew who saw the ghost ship suddenly dead.
1941: there was a report from Glenclaim Beach about an old ship which hit a coral. When it was researched the body of the ship wasn’t found.
1942: MHS Jubille near Cape Town, South Africa saw this ghost ship too.
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| The Flying Dutchman, Spongebob Squarepants version. |
According to a legend, The Flying Dutchman is a ghost ship which never makes port, but must sail through the “seven seas” forever. Flying Dutchman always can be seen from a far distance, sometimes with a “ghost light”.
