Legends and reports of ghost ships have been circulating around the world since time immemorial. Most of these rumors are associated with some kind of shipwreck. Often, when meeting people, such phantom ships demonstrate scenes of their death, which can be repeated over and over again.
Flying Dutchman
Undoubtedly the most famous ghost ship is the Flying Dutchman. The legend about him is based on a true incident that happened to a ship that sailed for Amsterdam in 1680 from the port of Batavia in the Dutch colony of East India on the island of Java. The ship was commanded by an experienced one. but a very ambitious and arrogant captain Hendrik van der Decken. When off the coast of South Africa, the ship fell into a fierce tropical hurricane, the captain, contrary to common sense, did not take refuge in the nearest bay, but stubbornly tried to follow the intended course. As a result, the ship sank along with the entire crew. As punishment for the ruined people, Van der Decken was cursed by heaven and condemned to wander the seas until the day of the Last Judgment.
Another version, the captain of the ship was named Van Straaten, he was also a stubborn man, determined to walk along one of the most insidious ocean places, the Cape of Storms, later renamed the Cape of Good Hope. During the storm, the ship was destroyed, and the ship's crew, consisting of the dead, were doomed to wander forever on a ghost ship. The ship can still be found at sea in stormy weather, but such a meeting portends misfortune.
There were other versions of the legend, one of them - in the romantic exposition of the great German poet of the 19th century Heinrich Heine - was used in his opera "The Flying Dutchman" by Heine's fellow countryman and contemporary, composer Richard Wagner.
But many sailors swear that they actually met in the ocean with the "Flying Dutchman".
In 1835, the captain and members of the crew of an English ship, during a strong storm off the African coast, saw a ghost ship rushing rapidly on them under full sails. It seemed that a collision was imminent, but the ghost disappeared as suddenly as it appeared.
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In 1881, a ghost sailing ship, also in stormy weather, appeared to the midshipman of the English warship "Bacchante" ("Bacchante"), And a day later, one of the sailors of this ship, while working with sails, fell from the yard and crashed to death.
Stone's story
In 1923, at the Cape of Good Hope, the Flying Dutchman appeared to the gaze of four sailors, one of whom, the captain's senior mate N. K. Stone, a few years later reported this case to Ernst Bennett, a member of the English Society for Psychical Research. Bennett cited Stone's story in his book, Ghosts and Haunted Houses. Eyewitness accounts”, published in 1934.
Here's how Stone described what happened:
“Around 0.15 at night we saw a strange glow ahead of us from the left side. It was overcast, the moon did not shine. Looking through binoculars, we made out the luminous outline of a two-masted sailing ship. There were no sails on it, the empty yards also glowed, and between them and the masts there was a faint glowing haze. The ship seemed to go straight towards us, and with the same. like ours, speed. We spotted it about two or three miles from us, and when it approached a distance of about half a mile, it suddenly disappeared from sight.
This phenomenon was observed by four: the second mate, the helmsman, the cabin boy and myself. I cannot forget the frightened exclamation of the second mate: "Lord, this is a ghost ship!"
Stone's words were confirmed by the second mate, two other witnesses could not be found.
Another encounter with the Flying Dutchman took place in March 1939 off the coast of South Africa. Local newspapers published the stories of dozens of vacationers who saw the ghost of the ship and emphasized that it was an old ship that was moving quickly under full sail, although the sea was completely calm.
Victims of the Sands of Goodwin
In the county of Kent, on the shores of the North Sea, stands the port city of Deal. Five miles away, in the Pas-de-Calais, there is a sandbank under water - the famous Goodwin Sands. And they are famous for being the richest place off the coast of England with ghost ships. According to legend, about 50 thousand people died here in shipwrecks. Phantom ships to this day appear in the waters of the Pas-de-Calais and the English Channel.
Most of all the talk is about the three-masted schooner "Lady Lavinbond", en route to the Portuguese port of Oporto and sank on February 13, 1748. Everyone on board died. Legend has it that this voyage was unlucky from the start. The fact is that the captain's bride, Questionnaire, was present on the schooner, and according to established maritime beliefs of those times, a woman on the ship - unfortunately.
According to one of the versions, the situation was aggravated by the fact that the captain's mate was also trying to get the hands of the Questionnaire, and that it was he who, having killed the helmsman, in revenge on the opponent arranged the wreck of the schooner.
And since then, every 50 years on February 13, "Lady Lavinbond" appears in the Goodwin Sands. First time. in 1798, the schooner was allegedly seen by the crew of two ships. The ghost looked so real that the captain of the Coast Guard ship Edenbridge feared a collision might occur. In 1848 the Lady Lavinbond phantom reappeared, this time dying in front of the sailors in the harbor. The scene of the tragedy was played out near Deal and looked so realistic that the stunned observers went out to sea on boats to look for the survivors. Of course, the rescuers did not find any people or any traces of the shipwreck.
The ghost of the schooner followed its otherworldly schedule in 1898. and in 1948. There is no information regarding 1998, so it remains to wait for 2048.
Another victim of the Goodwin Sands is the paddle steamer Violetta, which more than 100 years ago crossed the strait during a storm accompanied by heavy snowfall. The ship sank, and none of those on board escaped. At the outbreak of World War II, the ghost of "Violetta" illuminated the East Goodwin Lighthouse, located at the eastern end of the shoal. The workers of the lighthouse saw him and rushed to the aid of the perishing, but those were not available, however, as well as the ship itself.
Ghost ships in American waters
The legends about “ghosts with sails” often feature the names of pirates who plundered the seas in the 17th-18th centuries.
So, in the Gulf of Mexico, near the port of Galveston, the ghost of the ship of the pirate Jim Laffitte is sometimes seen. The ship is believed to have sunk here along with the entire crew in the 1820s.
But perhaps the oldest and most impressive is the story of 1648, which allegedly took place on the Atlantic coast in New Haven, Connecticut. The case is described in the book Magnalia Christ! Americana ("Great Acts of Christ in America") Cotton Matera. He himself drew this information from a letter from Pastor James Pierrepoint. The background of the events is as follows.
New Haven merchants from London were having a hard time. With their last money, they decided to join forces to build a ship to send it with goods to England. In January 1647, the ship set sail. But he never reached the shores of England. For many months, the inhabitants of New Haven, having no information about the ship, worried about its fate and prayed for the souls of the sailors.
And on one of the June days of the following year, at about noon, a strong storm suddenly hit the coast. Then the sky suddenly cleared just as suddenly, and about an hour before sunset, an event occurred, which Peer Point describes as:
“… A ship, the same size as the one just mentioned, with the same sails and pennants fluttering against the wind, appeared in sight, moving from the entrance to our harbor, which lies south of the city. His sails seemed to be fanned by a strong gale wind that drove him north. For half an hour, the ship continued to remain within sight, sailing through the harbor against the wind.
Many gathered to see this great miracle of God. Finally, the ship, now being watched by hundreds of eyes, reached the point in the bay where the depth was greatest. And then, as if someone threw a huge stone at him: the mainmast was demolished with one blow, and it hung on the shrouds, then the mizzen fell, and soon all the rig fell into the sea. After that, the hull of the ship began to heel, it turned over and disappeared in a sudden fog. Almost immediately, the fog cleared and it became clear. Before the ship disappeared, amazed people were able to make out its pennants, rigging and estimate its size. Therefore, the majority of those present came to a unanimous opinion: "This is the same ship, and we have now seen its tragic death!"
The next day, addressing the New Haven parishioners, the Reverend Davenport said in his sermon:
"It was the Lord, by his mercy, honored us with such a spectacle for the sake of calming the souls of the unfortunate perished, for whom we prayed so much and fervently."
Konstantin Vadimov. Magazine "Secrets of the XX century" № 33 2011