The Flying Dutchman

EsX_Raptor

United States2802 Posts

September 05 2009 14:43 GMT

The Flying Dutchman

It is impressive how nautical lore has made its way into many people's beliefs, specially those whose lives are bound to abide on the sea, pirates. It is still unknown how or why many of these myths made their way to the decks; some say it was to keep Captains humble while others say it was to make the crew more docile. But have you ever wondered if the true reason for the existence of these legends is because, they were actually true?

Alas the Flying Dutchman, a ghost ship that can never go home, doomed to sail the oceans forever. Her captain, a man by the name of Willem Van der Decken was said to be a dauntless man. He traveled a lot but on one of his trips, he dissapreared.

The Flying Dutchman

It is said that captain Willem was on his way to the Dutch East Indies when a terrible storm passing through the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa overcame his ship. The crew gave him advice to stop and wait for the storm to calm down but he didn't listen. "Even if God would let me sail to Judgement Day, I will pass the Cape!" shouted the captain while keeping his course, then a voice from above was heard: "Willem van der Decken, thou shall sail until Judgement Day!" He was doomed. One by one the members of his crew perished until he was the only one left aboard. To this date, when there is a heavy storm, captain Van der Decken is seen from afar on his black ship trying to pass the cape until Judgement Day.

Willem Van der Decken

For us, this is just a legend, a tale told to scare little children. But once, this was a story believed even by the most courageous pirates who have ever sailed the oceans; they saw it!

This was caused by a Fata Morgana, or a form of mirage mates. A Fata Morgana is a superior mirage that is created by the refraction of the light on the ocean that sometimes magnifies the object that is afar and reproduces it just above it. Sometimes creates an inverted image of the object and reflects it upsidedown. This happens only when certain weather conditions are just right. Here's an illustration for further clarification:

Superior images of two boats

I'm sure if you were back in the 18th century and saw this you would've easily believed it. The sight of a spectral ship flying on an invisible ocean would've been enough to make you jump overboard and head for land. This was the life of sailors, bound to believe the myth of the Flying Dutchman and many other ocean lore for the rest of their lives, often passing down the legend to others. To me, this was the main cause why a captain's crew was always loyal to him; they feared Davy Jones Locker.

Often legends are made not because someone was bored and decided to make up a story, but because he saw something that made him piss in his pants. A misconception? A hallucination? Natural phenomena? You name it. Truth is, it was very real to him, very real to us.