I had heard of the Flying Dutchman, but truth be told, I didn’t know what it was exactly. I had a lingering impression that it had something to do with pirates due to various representations in pop culture, but never dived into the lore. Now that I have, I don’t think the image of a floating ship with black masts and blood-red sails will ever leave me.
Sightings of the phantom ship date back to the 17th century and have been recorded all over the world. So, I couldn’t help but wonder, why is the Flying Dutchman so notorious? And how did the legend come to be?
The first recorded sightings were around the Cape of Good Hope off the tip of Africa. The area is known for its treacherous waters and many ships were lost in the region. There were a variety of origin stories associated with the famous phantom ship. Even though the stories differ, one thing remains consistent, shady deals were made between the various captains and the devil himself. Deals that resulted in the ship being cursed to sail the waters forever andever return to shore again. Needless to say, with all of the ghastly stories surrounding the Flying Dutchman, sightings of the phantom ship sent fear into the hearts of sailors. Seeing the cursed ship would surely mean impending doom or even an omen of death.
Wagner wrote an opera further immortalizing the phantom ship, Der Fliegende Holländer. In the opera, the captain proclaimed he would succeed even if he had to sail until Judgement Day during a terrible storm. The devil heard his pledge and cursed the captain to sail the oceans for eternity. However, with every good story, there is always an exception to a curse. The ship was able to reach the shore every seven years and if the captain was able to find his true love while on land, the curse would be broken. On one of those visits, the captain fell in love with a young maiden named Senta, but a misunderstanding led the captain to believe that Senta did not love him and he left the harbor once again with a broken heart. Since the maiden declared to be faithful until death, she threw herself off a cliff into the sea below. The curse was broken, and the ship crumbled into the sea.
Of course, there couldn’t possibly be any truth to these rumored sightings, right? The answer may surprise you. Modern science has shown that sailors may have actually seen images of ships floating above the horizon. The Cape of Good Hope has the perfect conditions for such a phenomenon to occur. Cold and warm currents collide there and when light shines through multiple layers of air, images can be reflected. It makes perfect sense that sailors would believe that supernatural elements were involved when they saw a ship floating above the water or even appeared to be upside down. I now completely understand why the Flying Dutchman has withstood the test of time and has inspired so many artists, poets, writers, and composers. The legend truly ignites the imagination.