The Flying Dutchman is a mysterious ghostly ship that plows the seas and oceans. According to legend, a ghost ship cannot land on the shore, and therefore its crew is destined to wander forever across the water. Eyewitnesses who happened to meet "The Flying Dutchman" describe it in different ways: either as covered with a whitish haze, or surrounded by a luminous halo. In the notes of sailors, preserved from past centuries, it is reported that the mysterious ship sometimes approaches other ships, and then the members of its crew ask to convey the message to relatives, who actually died long ago.
Where did the "Flying Dutchman" come from and for what is he doomed to forever surf the sea? There are several variants of the legend that answers this question.
According to one version, the captain of the ship, heading from the East Indies, liked the wife of one of the passengers. The captain killed her husband, hoping to comfort the widow, but the girl threw herself into the sea and drowned. The gods were angry with the killer, and when the ship tried to round the Cape of Good Hope, they sent a storm over the sea. At the suggestion of the crew to wait out the storm near the coast, the captain burst into curses and shouted that no one would go ashore until the ship circled the cape. So he brought a curse on the ship and all its crew. Since then, the Flying Dutchman is doomed to be the eternal wanderer of the sea.
According to another version, the captain threw one of those sailors into the sea who tried to persuade him to wait out the storm, and that was what caused the displeasure of the Gods. It was not clear only why the whole team suffered along with the captain. Therefore, over time, the legend was overgrown with new details, informing that the sailors and the captain himself were desperate thugs who killed many lives. Now they are paying for their sins.
It was considered a bad omen for sailors to meet a ghost ship. There was a belief that a ship that met the "Flying Dutchman" would certainly fall into a storm, start to leak, or even go to the bottom. To avoid an unwanted meeting, the sailors nailed horseshoes to the masts.
Usually all legends have historical prototypes. The story about The Flying Dutchman was no exception. Most likely, it was based on a story that happened with one of the Dutch ships in 1641. When the captain of this ship tried to round the Cape of Good Hope, a storm broke out. But the captain had an urgent task from the East India Company, and he decided to continue sailing. As a result, the ship went missing. Most likely, it crashed and went to the bottom. But the legend has its own version: the captain, desperate to overcome the cape, exclaimed: "I will get there, even if it takes forever!" These words were heard by the devil, who granted eternal life to the entire crew, but deprived the ship of the opportunity to land ashore.
Another prototype of the "Flying Dutchman" could be a ship on which a dangerous epidemic broke out in 1770. The disease claimed the lives of one sailor after another, and then the captain tried to land ashore to save the rest of the crew. But the authorities of Malta, and then Great Britain and Italy, past which the ship sailed, did not allow the ship to enter any port. As a result, all crew members died, and the ship is still floating on the waves as a mute reproach to those who doomed people to death.
As for the facts, the ghost ship was met in the 20th century. Most often, these meetings took place in the Cape Town area. So, in 1939, a mysterious ship was observed by bathers off the coast of South Africa. During World War II, the Flying Dutchman was met by a German submarine. Both of these events are documented and confirmed by numerous witnesses.
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In the 60s. 20th century scientists tried to find a solution to the mystery of the "Flying Dutchman". As a result of the research carried out, it was suggested that this ship is a mirage that appears in the foreshadowing of a storm or a violent storm. That is why the sailors had a bad feeling about this meeting.