Flying Dutchman

The Flying Dutchman is a ghost ship, the protagonist of a widespread legend around the world.

Legend
According to tradition, it is a ship that could not return to port, condemned to roam the world's oceans forever. The sailboat is always seen in the distance, sometimes glowing with a ghostly light. If another ship greets him, her crew will try to get their messages ashore, to people who have died centuries ago.

The versions of the legend are innumerable, but the original began with the captain of a Dutch ship, a bourgeois captain from Holland named Willem van der Decken, who made a pact with the devil to be able to always sail the seas regardless of the natural challenges that God put in his journey. But God finds out about this and in punishment condemns him to eternally sail aimlessly and without touching land, which is why he receives the name of "Flying Dutchman."

According to certain sources, the Dutch captain Bernard Fokke (17th century) served as a model for the commander of the ghost ship. Fokke was famous for the strange cruising speed that he reached in the crossings between Holland and Java, reason why it was suspected that he had signed a deal with the demon. In some Dutch versions of the myth, the captain is called Falkenburg.

Marryat, in his version, gives him the name of van der Decken (which means "on deck"), and he receives that of Ramhout van Dam in Washington Irving's version. The two do not agree on whether to call the ship or the captain "Flying Dutchman".

It is also said that he swore, in the face of a storm, that he would not back down until he had rounded the Cape of Great Hope, even if it was difficult for him to reach the Last Judgment. There has also been talk of a horrible crime committed on board the ship and even of a terrible epidemic that infected the crew, which for that reason was not allowed to disembark in any port, being condemned since then - ship and sailors - to sail eternally, without the possibility of stepping on land. As for the dates on which it would occur, it has been spoken of 1640 and 1681.

The similarities and concordances between the legends of the Flying Dutchman and the Flying Jew have often been pointed out.