The world knows many legends about ghost ships sailing the seas. Whether all of this can be attributed to fiction The first, among many eerie stories, is the Flying Dutchman.
Sailors know to see this ship on the horizon - to inevitable death. He emerges from the fog, surrounded by a luminous crown, greenish in color. The legend narrates:
“About 370 years ago, the captain of the ill-fated ship Philip Van der Decken, a native Dutchman, was returning from the shores of East India. On the ship, he was carrying a couple in love. Philip did not take his eyes off the young girl, succumbing to temptation, the captain kills her lover and makes a beautiful person, a marriage proposal. Love for the betrothed was stronger than fear. The girl refuses, and then rushing into the abyss, dies.
The Cape of Good Hope was the next refuge, but the attempt to bypass it cost the life of the ship and its captain. The ship was caught in a severe storm. The whole team asked the captain to wait out the disaster, but he killed everyone who resisted his will. The captain took an oath that no one would be able to leave the ship until it rounded the cape, even if it lasted forever.
These deeds made him pay for his sins by eternal wanderings on the seas, without the right to set foot on the promised land."
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People's opinions
They say that the curse is removed, there are even two versions of it:
First: The captain, once every ten years, is allowed to go to solid ground in search of a beautiful girl who, of her own free will, will become his wife.
Second: there is a word that can forever calm the soul of Philip and his team, removing the curse from the Flying Dutchman. The legend of a terrible incident was not the only one. There were rumors that Philip sold his soul to the devil, thereby dooming himself and the team to eternal wanderings. According to another version, the crew was overtaken by a disease, for this reason the ship was not launched into the port. Hungry, sick, without a drop of fresh water, the sailors of the Flying Dutchman simply died without touching the ground.
The fate of this ship is not shrouded in mysticism, but arouses interest
Maria Celeste, that was the name of the ship that sailed from New York to Italy. The ship was carrying rectified alcohol. The team consisted of ten people. A month passed before the ship was discovered. There was no crew on board. A detailed inspection showed that the hatch covers, including the bow compartment, had been torn off. The chronometer, sextant and small boat were missing from the found ship. A reasonable explanation for everything is the evacuation of the team. But what are the reasons for the sudden abandonment of the ship? The cargo is intact, the jewelry is in place, the supplies are intact.
Only one hypothesis seemed convincing to everyone. Along it, the ignition of alcohol vapors occurred. The hold, with leaking barrels, was gradually filling up with vapors. As a result, there was an explosion, and not one. The second, clearly superior in power to the first, because the hatch covers flew out and lay on the deck. Fearing further explosions, the captain decided to evacuate the ship. Taking the necessary things, they launched the boat into the water.
Most likely, the captain was not going to leave the ship forever. But the wind, which accidentally filled the sails, carried the ship in an unknown direction. The boat could not catch up with him. And the crew most likely got caught in a storm. The ship was found and used for another twelve years.
The ship Octavius, drifting with a frozen crew on it, for thirteen years. It passed along the shores of Greenland, but did not reach the port.
Small boats were also among the ghostly ones. But no ship is as popular as the mystical Flying Dutchman.