Tongue Twisters

The Flying Dutchman is a ghost ship. The Legend of the Flying Dutchman. The Legend of the Flying Dutchman

For many centuries, sailors passed on from mouth to mouth the story of a huge black ship that moved with supernatural speed, despite the torn sails. Many claimed that they saw the legendary “Flying Dutchman” with their own eyes, after which tragic misfortunes and blows of fate awaited them. And for some, the meeting with this mysterious ship turned out to be fatal. Some modern researchers seriously believe that they have really solved the mystery of the Flying Dutchman.

Edgar Allan Poe's short story "The Manuscript Found in a Bottle" (1833) tells the story of a man who is shipwrecked on a mysterious ship. His first encounter with the formidable ship is described in a tragic scene typical of Poe:

“Raising my gaze upward, I saw a sight that froze the blood in my veins. At a great height, right above us, on the very edge of a steep water cliff, a gigantic ship with a displacement of at least four thousand tons reared up. Although it hung on the crest of a wave a hundred times its own height, its true dimensions still exceeded those of any existing ship of the line or East India Company vessel. Its colossal, dull black hull was not enlivened by the usual carvings found on all ships. [...] But what instilled in us special horror and amazement was that, despite the sea raging with indomitable fury, this ship rushed with full sails towards a completely supernatural hurricane wind.”

Most likely, the American writer was inspired by stories about the Flying Dutchman. According to legend, this is a huge ship that was cursed and doomed to float at sea for all eternity. Among the sailors they said that the captain of the ship, returning from the East Indies, killed a couple in love. While passing the Cape of Good Hope, the ship encountered a storm. The blasphemous captain swore that none of his crew would set foot on the ground, which brought disaster. And now a gloomy ship with an immortal crew plows the ocean. Only once every ten years can the captain go ashore to find a wife and thus break the spell.

Usually the “Flying Dutchman” was seen from afar, when it swiftly sailed under full sail towards the wind, which could not help but frighten experienced sailors. Only sometimes a strange ship approached, and its sailors asked to convey letters to their relatives. In any case, meeting with a “cursed” ship was considered a bad omen by superstitious sailors.

There are many maritime legends and fables about the ship, but there is no real evidence to support the story of the “Flying Dutchman”. There is only one theory that explains the appearance of a ghostly ship that can glide along the waves against the wind and even fly in the air. It's all about optical illusion.

Optical illusion or fata morgana (named after the fairy Morgana, a witch from the tales of King Arthur) occurs due to the formation of several layers of air with different temperatures. They become a kind of “mirrors”, with the help of which the “picture” is transmitted very far. In this case, the image of the ship is reflected several times. Thus, you can see ships or islands far beyond the horizon. They will seem to be “floating” right through the air.

Since then, the Flying Dutchman has been plowing the seas, causing death and destruction. As legend has it, the ghost of the Flying Gollan foretells certain death for a ship or part of the crew. Therefore, sailors feared him like fire, superstitiously nailing horse shoes to the masts.

“...And if in the clear morning hour Swimmers in the seas met him, They were forever tormented by an inner voice with a blind harbinger of sadness...”

There is another, very real precedent for the “Flying Dutchman”. In 1770, an epidemic of an unknown disease broke out on one of the ships. While in the vicinity of Malta, the sailors asked for asylum in a local port. The authorities refused due to security reasons. The ports of Italy and Great Britain did the same, dooming the ship's inhabitants to a slow death. In the end, the ship really turned into a floating island with a pile of skeletons on board.

Interestingly, one of the representatives of the English royal family almost met with the Flying Dutchman. On July 11, 1881, the British ship Bacchae, carrying the young prince as a midshipman cadet, encountered a ghost ship. By the will of fate, the prince was destined to live many more years and become King George V. But the sailor, who was on patrol that fateful day, soon fell from the mast and was killed.

But the most amazing thing in this whole story is that the legendary ship was met even in the 20th century! So, in March 1939, his presence was witnessed firsthand by many South African swimmers. This event is documented, as all the newspapers wrote about it that day. A similar story happened with one of the

There are many legends that do not have scientific evidence, but many people say that they have seen various ghosts with their own eyes. These include the story about the “Flying Dutchman”, who scares sailors.

"The Flying Dutchman" - what is it?

There are several legends that describe ghostly ships that are afloat, but all the crew members are dead. Among the most famous ships is the “Flying Dutchman” - a sailing ship that is cursed to forever float in the ocean, unable to land on shore. Many people claim that they saw it with their own eyes surrounded by bright light, but there is no real evidence of this.

What does the Flying Dutchman look like?

Since there are no photographs or other documentary evidence of the vessel’s existence, its appearance is described in legends. The ghost ship "The Flying Dutchman" has enormous dimensions that are incomparable to any other boat known on Earth. It is presented with black sails that look shabby because they are always raised, no matter what the weather is outside. The ship itself has a half-rotten hull, but it still stays afloat, continuing its damned path.

The Legend of the Flying Dutchman

The history of the famous ghost ship began in the 17th century. It tells about a ship that set sail from the coast of the East Indies under the leadership of Captain Philip Van der Decken. There was a young couple on the ship, and the captain decided to marry the girl, so he killed the guy. The girl did not accept the decision and threw herself into the sea. The ship "Flying Dutchman" was moving towards the Cape of Good Hope and suddenly a strong storm began. The captain swore that he was ready to fight the elements for at least an eternity, but he would go around the cape. The spoken words became a curse that prevents the ship from mooring to the shore.

There are other versions of why the Flying Dutchman became a ghost ship:

There is a legend that the reason for the curse is that the ship's crew violated the main rule of all sailors and did not help another sinking boat.
On its way, the Dutchman met a ghost pirate ship, which handed over its .
The captain of the Flying Dutchman decided to gamble with fate and lost his soul to the Devil at a game of dice.

"The Flying Dutchman" - fact or fiction

There are several logical explanations for the existence of ghost ships.

The Fata Morgana phenomenon is an optical phenomenon that often appears on the surface of the water. The holy halo that people see is considered to be St. Elmo's fire.
Understanding whether the Flying Dutchman exists, they talk about a version associated with diseases on ships. While en route, all crew members died, and the ship rocked on the waves for a long time. This explains the legend that when encountering a ghost ship, the crew of other boats die as the disease spreads to the sailors.
Einstein's theory of relativity is popular, according to which there are many parallel worlds and different entities and objects can pass through them. This explains not only the reasons for the appearance, but also the disappearance of other ships without a trace.
In the 30s, Academician V. Shuleikin put forward the theory that during a strong storm, low-frequency ultrasonic vibrations arise that a person cannot hear, but with their prolonged influence, death occurs. To escape, people jump overboard and die. This explains not only the legend of the Flying Dutchman, but also rare encounters with other empty ships.

"The Flying Dutchman" - facts

According to existing information, the first mention of a ghost ship was found in 1795 in a note that was found in the possession of a pocket swindler. The story of "The Flying Dutchman" says that every hundred years the captain of the ship has a chance to break the curse and for this he gets the chance to go to earth to find a girl who will marry him. The legend has become the basis for many works of art and films. The Flying Dutchman was used as an example for the creation of the ghost ship in the famous film Pirates of the Caribbean.

Which cannot land on the shore and is doomed to sail the seas forever. Usually people observe such a ship from afar, sometimes surrounded by a luminous halo. According to legend, when the Flying Dutchman encounters another ship, its crew tries to send messages ashore to people who have long been dead. In maritime beliefs, an encounter with the Flying Dutchman was considered a bad omen.

Origin

Legend has it that in 1641, Dutch captain Philip Van der Decken (or in some versions Van Straaten) was returning from the East Indies with a young couple on board. The captain liked the girl; he killed her betrothed, and proposed to her to become his wife, but the girl threw herself overboard.

Other versions of the legend

Van der Decken vowed to sell his soul to the devil if he could pass the cape unharmed and not run into the rocks. However, in the contract he did not specify that this needed to be done only once, and therefore he was doomed to eternal wanderings.
Due to strong storms, the ship was unable to round Cape Horn for a long time (according to another version, the Cape of Good Hope). The crew rebelled, asking the skipper to turn back. But the angry Van Straaten began to blaspheme in response and declared that he would storm Cape Horn, even if he had to sail until the second coming. In response to such blasphemy, a terrible voice was heard from the sky: “So be it - swim!”
The crew of a Dutch merchant ship fell ill with a terrible disease. For fear that the disease might be brought ashore, no port accepted the ship. The ship with sailors who died from illness, lack of water and food still roams the seas and oceans.
One version tells of Captain Falkenburg, who was doomed to wander the North Sea until the Last Judgment, playing dice with the devil for his own soul.
The crew of the Flying Dutchman was in such a hurry to get home that they did not come to the aid of another sinking ship, for which they were cursed. [ ]

Possible explanation

One of the possible explanations, as well as the origin of the name, is associated with the phenomenon of Fata Morgana, since the mirage is always visible above surface of the water.

It is also possible that the glowing halo is St. Elmo's fire. For sailors, their appearance promised hope for success, and in times of danger, for salvation.

There is also a version that yellow fever played a role in the origin of the legend. Transmitted by mosquitoes that bred in containers of food water, this disease was quite capable of destroying an entire ship. An encounter with such a ghost ship was truly life-threatening: hungry mosquitoes immediately attacked living sailors and transmitted the infection to them.

In art

In fiction, the legend has been presented in many variations. In 1839, the English writer Frederick Marryat's novel The Ghost Ship was published, telling about the wanderings of Philip Van der Decken, the son of the captain of the cursed ship. Nikolai Gumilyov’s poem “” from the series “Captains”, IV, published in 1909, is dedicated to the Flying Dutchman. The Flying Dutchman is mentioned in the story “Captain Duke” by Alexander Greene.

The film Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest uses the image of the Flying Dutchman.

One of the literary versions of the legend is given in Leonid Platov’s novel “The Secret Fairway,” in which the “Flying Dutchman” is a secret submarine that carries out missions of particular importance for the needs of the Third Reich. Anatoly Kudryavitsky, in his novel “The Flying Dutchman” (2012), presented his own version of the legend, according to which the captain loses a dispute between Death and Death During Life, and gets the latter, on which the subsequent narrative about Russian life in the 70s of the 20th century is based. English writer Brian Jakes wrote a series of detective and adventure books about the boy Ben and his dog who escaped from the Flying Dutchman.

Musicians have also addressed this topic more than once. Already in January 1827, the premiere of George Rodwell's opera took place at the Adelphi Theater (English)Russian"The Flying Dutchman, or the Ghost Ship" The Flying Dutchman, or The Phantom Ship), and in 1843, one of Richard Wagner’s first operas, “The Flying Dutchman,” was released in Dresden, the composer was inspired to write it by a storm that he and his wife encountered during a trip to England.

At the end of the 20th and beginning of the 21st centuries, the theme of the Flying Dutchman was repeatedly used in popular musical culture. She sounded in the compositions:

group Rammstein in the composition “Seemann” (album “ Herzeleid»)
rock group “Time Machine” (“The Flying Dutchman”, 1976; album “Unreleased I”)
group "Carnival"
rock group “Nautilus Pompilius” (“Flying Frigate”; album “Moving”)
rock group “Reflection” (“On board the Flying Dutchman”, magnetic album “Black Shadow”)
group Carach Angren (album Death Came Through A Phantom Ship- “Death arrived by ghost ship”)
horror punk bands King and Jester - “A good pirate is a dead pirate”
rock bard

So, they say that one day a certain Dutch captain wanted to go around Cape Horn. It was late autumn, and everyone knows that insurmountable evil winds blow there at that time. The Dutchman reefed the sails, changed tacks, but the wind blowing head-on invariably threw him back. He was a dashing and experienced sailor, however, a great sinner, and also stubborn as a monkfish. Based on these signs, some recognize him as Captain Van Straaten from Delft. Others, however, strongly support the Swedish captain Van der Decken. Both of them lived about three hundred years ago, loved to look at the bottom of the bottle, and they blasphemed, they say, so much that when the whales heard them, they turned over on their bellies. So this Van Straaten, or Van der Decken, became completely enraged when the headwind blocked his path for the fifth or sixth time. He shook all over with anger, raised his fists above his head and shouted such a monstrous god towards the storm that the clouds, unable to bear it, spat out rain in response. Wet from head to toe, having lost his three-cornered hat, the Dutchman, however, did not calm down. With the bones of his mother, he swore, at least until the Last Judgment, to go around Cape Horn, until, despite the storm, he would go around it!

And what? The Dutchman was immediately taken at his word! God condemned him to wander the seas and oceans until the end of time, never touching the shore! And if he did try to enter the harbor, then something would immediately push him out of there, like a poorly fitted wedge from a hole. Lord our God, be among us, it is said, also one of the stubborn ones! If he gets something into his head, try it - you won’t even be able to get it out of there with a tow! So, this is how it has been going ever since. For the fourth century the Flying Dutchman has been flying back and forth across the seas. At night, the lights of St. Elmo tremble on the tops of its masts; during the day, the rays of the sun shine through between the ribs of the frames. The ship, completely full of holes from old age, would have sunk long ago, but magical power keeps it on the surface. And the sails are always full of wind, even if the sea is calm and other ships are drifting. A meeting with the Flying Dutchman invariably foreshadows a shipwreck! Even if you have at least a thousand feet under your keel and not a single can for hundreds of miles around, the Flying One will always have pebbles! Still would! His character has not improved over the past three and a half centuries. And why would he improve?..

But, after our Lord God held the Dutchman by the skirts of his caftan at Cape Horn, the old man no longer dared to dare the heavens. Now he takes it out on his brother, the sailor. The dead envy us, the living! The dead are envious, believe me! And on top of that, Flying is sick and tired of this rigmarole. For many years, like a restless man, he has been dangling between heaven and earth. Out of spite, he lies in wait for the sailors somewhere near the stones. It can catch your eye both in a storm and in a calm, emerge from the fog in the morning, appear far on the horizon, or jump out nearby, like a float from a fishing net jumps out of the water. Sometimes he appears even on a sunny day. And this, they say, is the worst thing! Directly ahead they notice a faint rainbow flicker, like a light tornado. It is quickly approaching and condensing. Look: this is a ghostly ship, which rolls from wave to wave in a spray of foam! This will probably make you sad, huh? He just wasn’t here, and now he’s within shouting distance, visible all the way from the top of the masts to the waterline. The ancient design has the stern and bow raised, with high superstructures, as was customary in the seventeenth century, with peeling wooden decorations along the sides. And on the gaff hangs a flag, so tattered that it is impossible to determine its nationality. What else is there to determine? A grave cold immediately came from the sea, as if an iceberg had risen from the abyss of water! The skipper, dumbfounded, looks at the compass. What happened to the compass? The ship changes course on its own! But it is not carried away by the current, and there are no magnetic anomalies in this area, and the wind is calm, even backstay. This ghost, settling in front, led the way. Point by point the ship is moving away from the recommended course. The sailors ran along the yards, removing the sails! The boatswain and several other people with him, without orders, rushed to help the helmsman, surrounded the wheel on all sides, quickly grabbed the spokes, pulled, pushed with all their might! Feet slip on the wet deck. No! Can't keep the ship on course! The disastrous turn continues! And the distance between you and your matelot is closing faster and faster. You can already make out the faces of people standing on the yards and shrouds of the ghostly ship. But these are not faces - skulls! They grin from under their colorful headbands and small cocked hats tilted to one side. And on the quarterdeck the red-faced captain is jumping back and forth like a monkey in a cage. Admire it while you still have time!

The appearance of the Flying Dutchman is described as follows. It’s as if he’s wearing a spacious brown caftan, a cutlass dangling from his belt, no hat, gray hair standing upright over his bald head. His voice is loud and carries far over the sea. You can hear him urging his sailors on, threatening to wrap their guts around a windlass, calling them bony quitters and rotten fish food. The turn is complete. The helmsman dropped the helm and covered his face with his hands. Ahead, behind the bowsprit, in the web of yards, I saw an inevitably approaching white stripe, fountains of foam that rose and fell. It's surf! And it was as if an invisible tow rope had snapped. The vision of the ship dissipates like steam. The Flying Dutchman has disappeared. The grinding impact of the bottom on the stones is heard. And this is the last thing you hear in your life... I should probably tell you more about the letters. There are, you see, lucky people who manage to meet the Flying Dutchman and return home safe. However, this happens rarely - only two or three times a century. At night, on a parallel course, an angular silhouette appears, and so close that you could throw the fenders overboard. Everyone on watch is instantly chilled to the bone. It's impossible to make a mistake! The devil reeks of sulfur, the Flying One reeks of cold, like from a crypt. A cold, hoarse voice calls out from the darkness: “Hey, on the ship!” Which port are you heading to? The skipper answers, barely moving his tongue, preparing for death. But he is only asked to accept and transmit correspondence. You cannot refuse: this is the law of maritime politeness. A canvas bag flops onto the deck. And immediately the angular silhouette lags behind and disappears into the darkness. Well, you understand, during the flight the crew sidesteps the bag, as if it were filled with hot coals from the underworld itself. But there are letters, only letters. Upon arrival at the port, they are pulled out of the bag, sorted and, wanting to get rid of it as quickly as possible, sent to different cities. The addresses, note, are written in the old spelling, the ink has faded! Letters arrive very late and do not find their recipients. The wives, brides and mothers of sailors, doomed to wander the world for the sins of their grumpy, stubborn captain, died a long time ago, and even the trace of their graves was lost. But the letters come and come.

Be carefull! Scientists say you can share the fate of the Flying Dutchman, a ghost ship doomed to forever roam the seas and oceans, which is believed to be one of the first victims of the Bermuda Triangle. “The crew of the Flying Dutchman have been caught in a time loop that they haven’t been able to get out of since the 17th century,” says historian Professor Donald Wilson, who has spent 30 years studying the Bermuda Triangle. According to the researcher, the ship's sailors are doomed to live through the same events until the end of time or until the Earth and its oceans disappear. Experts believe that anyone can become a victim of a time loop.

Wilson adds: “There is no doubt that the victims do not understand what has happened to them. It was an ordinary day for the captain and crew at the end of 1660, and they believe that a favorable wind is blowing in their sails to carry them home." Wilson carefully studied ancient records of voyages and discovered previously unknown references to the ship's log, which was kept by the captain of the Flying Dutchman, Van der Decken, before the ship set off on its final journey.

These records indicate that he planned to sail past Bermuda. Consequently, the ship ended up in the area now called the Devil's Triangle. The captain and crew had plenty of experience, and the ship was the most advanced at that time. The weather was calm. In short, there was no navigational reason for the Flying Dutchman to disappear. Neither the wreckage of the ship nor the bodies of the sailors were found, which is also evidence that something extraordinary happened.

There is only one explanation - the Devil's Triangle is to blame. According to Wilson, this region of the ocean is a window into as yet undiscovered dimensions of space and time. Under certain circumstances, which we cannot understand and which cannot be predicted, this window swings open for a short period. Everything and everyone who unfortunately ended up there is sucked into these other dimensions. But their trace remains trapped in space and time. That's why they appear occasionally, like the Flying Dutchman, as ghosts.

It is no coincidence that the legend of the “Flying Dutchman” also lives on: after all, a ghost ship appears where there is a window-passage into a time trap.