The flying Dutchman is real and roams the oceans until now
not just a legend
To be honest, I really tought the ship "The Flying Dutchman" to be a ship invented for the movie "Pirates of the Caribbean" with Johnny Deep.
The Flying Dutchman is a legendary sailing ghost ship that cannot land and is doomed to sail the seas forever.
Usually people observe such a ship from afar, sometimes surrounded by a glowing halo. According to legend, when the Flying Dutchman meets another ship, his crew tries to send messages to the shore to people who have long been dead. Among sailors, meeting him is considered a bad omen.
Dozens of ships disappear into the oceans every year. These are not only fragile skiffs and boats, elegant yachts and pleasure boats - there are also passenger liners and dry cargo ships among the missing.
What happened? Where have you gone? Any sailor will tell you that everything here is very simple and hopeless: they met the "Flying Dutchman". In October 1913, a rescue team from the English steamer Johnsons boarded a drifting sailboat, on board of which the half-erased words "Malborough" were barely read.
The sails and masts of the ship were covered with a greenish mildew. The deck boards are rotten. A skeleton was reclining by the gangway, covered with decaying rags. Another 20 skeletons were found on the bridge and in the cabins. The pages of the logbook were stuck together, the ink flowed, and it was impossible to read anything. A storm was approaching, and the captain of the steamer, not having the opportunity, and even the desire to take the ghost ship in tow, marked the meeting place with the mysterious sailboat on the map and ordered to lie down on the return course. At the port, the captain informed the authorities of his find. It quickly became clear that the Malborough had left the port of Littleton in New Zealand in January 1890 with a cargo of wool and frozen mutton. The crew was commanded by Captain Hird.
He was known as a skilled and knowledgeable sailor. The last time a sailboat was seen was 1 April 1890 in the Pacific Ocean near Tierra del Fuego. Incredibly, for 23 years the sailboat has wandered about the seas! This could not be, but the fact remained.
But the most amazing thing in this whole story is that the legendary ship was greeted even in the 20th century! So, in March 1939, many South African bathers witnessed his presence with their own eyes. This event is documented, as on that day they wrote about it in all the newspapers.
Legend has it that in 1641 the Dutch captain Philip Van der Decken (or according to some versions Van Straaten) was returning from the East Indies and carrying a young couple on board. The captain liked the girl; he killed her betrothed, and made an offer to her to become his wife, but the girl threw herself overboard.
Now he, immortal, invulnerable, but unable to go ashore, is doomed to surf the waves of the world's oceans until the second coming. Although, according to some versions, he has a chance to find peace: once every ten years, Van der Decken can return to earth and try to find one that will voluntarily agree to become his wife. According to another version, there is a certain magic word that can remove the curse and calm the Flying Dutchman and its crew. The first printed mention of the Flying Dutchman appeared in 1795 in the book A Voyage to Botany Bay, attributed to the then famous London pickpocket and crook George Barrington . On July 11, 1881, the future King of England George V, passing on a warship between Melbourne and Sydney, made an entry in his diary that he, among the thirteen crew members, saw the "Flying Dutchman".
One of the possible explanations, as well as the origin of the name, is associated with the phenomenon of "fata morgana", since a mirage is always visible above the surface of the water.
It is also possible that the glowing halo is the lights of Saint Elmo. Their appearance promised the sailors the hope of success, and in times of danger - and of salvation.
There is also a version that yellow fever played a role in the origin of the legend. Transmitted by mosquitoes breeding in containers with food water, this disease was quite capable of exterminating an entire ship. A meeting with such a ghost ship was really life-threatening: hungry mosquitoes immediately attacked living sailors and transmitted the infection to them.
About the Creator
Maria Ostasevici
Communication and public relations student, Moldova
Instagram profile: maria.ostasevici;
mother of two awesome Dobermans.
BEST VERSION OF YOURSELF- THAT'S TRULY EPIC
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