Is the Flying Dutchman no more?

The most infamous ghost ship of all times haven't been seen in 68 years. At least no one has reported it.




To those who don't know the legend, the Captain of the Dutchman, Vanderdecken was forcing his ship around the cape of Good Hope in 1641. As a storm ensued, his crew said it was the will of God that they don't proceed, Vanderdecken Cursed God causing a curse on his own ruined ship. The Captain and ship was doomed to sail the waters of the world until judgment day. It has been seen often in earlier Centuries and is often seen as a bad omen.


The most famous witness was a royal British sailor in1881;

At 4 a.m. the Flying Dutchman crossed our bows. A strange red light as of a phantom ship all aglow, in the midst of which light the masts, spars, and sails of a brig 200 yards distant stood out in strong relief as she came up on the port bow, where also the officer of the watch from the bridge clearly saw her, as did the quarterdeck midshipman, who was sent forward at once to the forecastle; but on arriving there was no vestige nor any sign whatever of any material ship was to be seen either near or right away to the horizon, the night being clear and the sea calm. Thirteen persons altogether saw her ... At 10.45 a.m. the ordinary seaman who had this morning reported the Flying Dutchman fell from the foretopmast crosstrees on to the topgallant forecastle and was smashed to atoms.

The sailor later took the thrown as King George V.

So why is it now absent? Has it lost it's steam as some ghosts do? It was strong for centuries, but then with all the power of the ocean to fuel it, could it have not kept going? Do you think witnesses are less likely to report a sighting in this modern day? Could poor old Henrik Vanderdecken have found redemption?

Thoughts?

Originally posted by MadameGuillotine
Do you think witnesses are less likely to report a sighting in this modern day? Could poor old Henrik Vanderdecken have found redemption?

Thoughts?

Nice thread and subject.

I am going to go with the redemption answer, since it is the best we have to go on currently. lol.
We are talking about a Ghost Ship after all.

Or, as you suggested, it just hasn't been "reported".
Maybe people who see it keep it to themselves for fear of ridicule?
Or maybe, anyone who sees it never returns to port to share their tales?

It is impossible to know. What would be extremely cool is if someone video taped the Flying Dutchman one day and it went viral. That would be awesome.

reply to post by MadameGuillotine


Strange to say the least... I wonder why he was rounding the Cape of Good hope, instead of landing there like Jan Van Riebeeck did on the 6th April 1652? Maybe the Dutch learned a lesson from this, and decided to base themselves their for further exploration?

en.wikipedia.org...

Ahhh..., this takes me back to my school days, learning about the great explorers like JVB, Cook, Drake, Da Gama, etc - all great men

Hmm.. Interesting.. Most likely its been seen just not made the media ...

If it is lack of reports, would the interest in recent years in the paranormal mean we might hear more again?

Has anyone heard or any sighting later than '42? I would love to know if there is.

Thanks for posting this up I've always wondered if ghosts have a life span of sorts. I've never heard of any prehistoric ghosts or any ghosts from ancient Rome still around etc...

Originally posted by Silverado292
Thanks for posting this up I've always wondered if ghosts have a life span of sorts. I've never heard of any prehistoric ghosts or any ghosts from ancient Rome still around etc...

there is a hill near me in Somerset England that has regular reports of ghostly Roman legions marching across the hill and road.

OP S&F for interesting topic

Originally posted by Silverado292
Thanks for posting this up I've always wondered if ghosts have a life span of sorts. I've never heard of any prehistoric ghosts or any ghosts from ancient Rome still around etc...

It could be like you say that even ghosts have a life span of sorts and the fact that traffic in the area has dropped since the Panama Canal opened on August 15, 1914 would help.

A ship I have alway wondered about was the Mary Celeste. Now there is a mystery.
Mary Celecte

reply to post by Versa


Very interesting I'll be doing some reading up on it. Have you ever visited the site? I've been to a few of the Anasazi Ruins when I was younger, while it felt "weird" there, there were no talk of Ghosts etc..

reply to post by fixer1967


That story has always intrigued me, I started to think about it differently after joining the Navy. There's no way any sane person is going to abandon a perfectly good ship out in the middle of the ocean. While it's very beautiful out to sea, especially at night you feel very small out there.

Well, I've been working in a religious establishment all day (& I'm not done yet - I need the effing money!) so perhaps thats where this theory comes from:

What if The Flying Dutchman hasn't been seen b/c Judgement Day has been & gone? Maybe Henrick & Co have served their time & been released, whilst we are the eternally damned, our souls doomed to reincarnate into a world that is ruled by evil. Just b/c some long dead religious people couldn't conceive of Hell in any other way than obvious torments such as lakes of fire & hideous demons, does that mean it could only be that way? Whats worse, being hung, drawn & quartered, or a death by a thousand cuts?
Then again, perhaps they were right about the fire: Hiroshima & Nagasaki... oops, not long after the Dutchman's last sighting! Hmmm... the hideously mutated demons: there is so much refined radioactive material loose on the surface of Earth (fallout, DU, particulates, "low-level" contaminants dumped in the sea, etc) that the outcome cannot possibly be anything other than increased mutation & cancer rates. Will we see claws & extra heads on people soon? I doubt it, but we have no idea what such mutagens will do to people 20, 50, 100 generations down the line. Apparently, eternity is a long time &, lets have it right, a divine being would be nothing if not patient.

Is there any redemption for us, then? According to christianity: no. Merry christmas!

Originally posted by Silverado292
Thanks for posting this up I've always wondered if ghosts have a life span of sorts. I've never heard of any prehistoric ghosts or any ghosts from ancient Rome still around etc...

Cant recall the name of it .. But theres a pub in uk where the ghosts of roman legionaires march through the cellar.. Maybe some of the uk people know the one am think of ?

Perhaps the reason why the dutchman may have vanished due to the lack of travel on the seas. Sure naval and sea frieght vessels are still floating around but due to technology. not that many of the crew are looking overboard. Maybe thats why. just a theory

I agree with the last statement, with technology changes captains of a ship now rely heavily on instruments and radar and other technology, ships still have a crows nest but is rarely used for actually sighting other ships as they have their on board instruments.

this could easily explain the lack of sightings, so unless the ghost ship actually crossed paths with it and was directly in front nobody would know

even then the media would cover it up, that's if the ship made it back to shore... and that is if the crew spoke about it as most would fear been ridiculed.

so the chances of ghosts sightings nowdays are left to 90% attention seekers and fakes because the honest lot will not speak out about it

and it's sad in this damn age that people will still ridicule ghosts and demons and aliens when we all know they exist

At 10.45 a.m. the ordinary seaman who had this morning reported the Flying Dutchman fell from the foretopmast crosstrees on to the topgallant forecastle and was smashed to atoms.

To me thats a strange sentence as in I can't imagine someone using the word atoms in that time period, at least not in the way we fling it about now days. Neat story though thanks op.

I used to love stories like this when I was a kid.

I agree with the poster about the crows nest, I would assume they don't show up on radar, so unless the ship actually comes within a good visible distance, they'd be none the wiser.

Originally posted by Namewithheld
Perhaps the reason why the dutchman may have vanished due to the lack of travel on the seas. Sure naval and sea frieght vessels are still floating around but due to technology. not that many of the crew are looking overboard. Maybe thats why. just a theory

Very good post.

Often times I think the same thing about UFO sightings.

Most people are inside watching TV or something. Very few people actually sky watch these days.

There may be more total people sky gazing today than ever before, but it is probably a lower % of the population than it ever has been before at the same time.

This applies to the Flying Dutchman as well. There are probably more people out on the seas to view it, but there is the lowest % of people actually looking overboard at the same time.

Really interesting, didnt know their were reported sightings. Will look up abit more.

Originally posted by Silverado292
Thanks for posting this up I've always wondered if ghosts have a life span of sorts. I've never heard of any prehistoric ghosts or any ghosts from ancient Rome still around etc...

Which reminds me of a freaky story I read in Ian Wilson's book about ghosts in the 1990s. He tells the story of a plumber asked to work in the basement of a city council building in the UK some time in the 1980s. As the plumber was working, a whole Roman legion came marching through one wall, across the cellar and out the opposite wall. For part of the trip, they were marched on the floor, for the rest of it, beneath floor level. (This was because when the council building was built, the original hillock it was on was levelled.)
Well, the plumber took to his scrapers and was out of there toot sweet! The receptionist laughed at him and said "Oh I should have warned you, they do that every day at this time!"
I theorise (as did Ian Wilson) that the Roman legion ghosts are simply "recordings" - but they've been around for at least 1600 to as much as 1900 years!
Vicky
I have just noticed that earlier in the thread, posters have mentioned this story, but with variations that make it different from Ian Wilson's story. We have few ghosts here - not enough technological history?