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The Legend of The Flying Dutchman

The Legend of The Flying Dutchman . By: Mrs. Lynn. a ship that was doomed to sail around the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa forever. The Legend: . The legend of The Flying Dutchman is said to have started in 1641 when a Dutch ship sank off the coast of the Cape of Good Hope….

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The Legend of The Flying Dutchman

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  1. The Legend of The Flying Dutchman By: Mrs. Lynn a ship that was doomed to sail around the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa forever

  2. The Legend: • The legend of The Flying Dutchman is said to have started in 1641 when a Dutch ship sank off the coast of the Cape of Good Hope… • Captain Van der Decken was pleased. The trip to the Far East had been highly successful and at last, they were on their way home to Holland. As the ship approached the tip of Africa, the captain thought that he should make a suggestion to his employers to start a settlement there at the Cape, thereby providing a welcome break to ships at sea. • He was so deep in thought he failed to notice the dark clouds looming. Only when the lookout screamed out in terror, did he realize he had sailed straight into a fierce storm. The captain and crew battled for hours to get out of the storm and at one stage it looked like they would make it. But then…a sickening sound - the ship had hit treacherous rocks and began to sink. • As the ship plunged downwards, Captain Van derDecken knew that death was approaching. He was not ready to die and screamed out a curse: "I WILL round this Cape even if I have to keep sailing until doomsday!“

  3. Don't look too carefully, for the old folk claim that whoever sights the ship will die a terrible death. So, even today whenever a storm brews off the Cape of Good Hope, if you look into the eye of the storm, you will be able to see the ship and its captain – The Flying Dutchman.

  4. The Theories Many people have claimed to have seen The Flying Dutchman, including the crew of a German submarine boat during World War II. One such story… On July 11, 1881, the Royal Navy ship was rounding the tip of Africa, when it was confronted with the sight of The Flying Dutchman. The midshipman, a prince who later became King George V, recorded that the lookout man and the officer of the watch had seen the Flying Dutchman. He used these words to describe the ship, “A strange red light as of a phantom ship all aglow, in the midst of which light the mast, spars and sails of a brig 200 yards distant stood out in strong relief.” It's pity that the lookout saw the Flying Dutchman, for soon after on the same trip, he fell from a mast and died. Fortunately for the English royal family, the young midshipman survived the curse.

  5. Scientific Explanation Probably the most credible explanation might be a superior mirage or Fata Morgana seen at sea. A ship sailing around Africa encountered a peculiar sight and news soon spread through the vessel that a phantom-ship was sailing in the air over a phantom-ocean, and that it was a bad omen. The captain was told the wonderful tale, and coming on deck, he explained to the sailors that this strange appearance was caused by the refraction of some ship that was sailing on the water below this image, but at such a distance they could not see it. There were certain conditions of the atmosphere when the sun's rays could form a perfect picture in the air of objects on the earth, like the images one sees in glass or water. But, they were not generally upright, as in the case of this ship, but reversed—turned bottom upwards. This appearance in the air is called a mirage. He told a sailor to go up to the foretop and look beyond the phantom ship. The man obeyed, and reported that he could see on the water, below the ship in the air, one precisely like it. Just then another ship was seen in the air, only this one was a steamship, and was bottom-upwards, as the captain had said these mirages generally appeared. Soon after, the steamship itself came in sight. The sailors were now convinced, and never afterwards believed in phantom-ships.

  6. Scientific Explanation (continued) • Folklore associates the Flying Dutchman with the North Sea. Its icy water is one of the best places to see a superior mirage. • Another optical effect, known as "looming," occurs when rays of light are bent across different refractive indices. This could make a ship just off the horizon appear hoisted in the air.

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