Beyond the Veil Magazine

The Flying Dutchman

Issue #19: July 1980

For over three centuries, mariners have reported sightings of a spectral ship that sails forever, never reaching port. She appears in storms, her rigging glowing with an unearthly light, her decks manned by a crew of the damned. To see her is an omen of doom.

She is the Flying Dutchman, the most famous ghost ship in the world.

The Legend

The origin of the Flying Dutchman legend is disputed. Most versions place the story in the seventeenth century, during the golden age of Dutch maritime commerce.

According to the most common account, Captain Hendrick van der Decken was sailing from Amsterdam to Batavia (modern Jakarta) when his ship encountered a terrible storm off the Cape of Good Hope. His crew begged him to turn back, but van der Decken refused. He swore that he would round the Cape even if he had to sail until Judgment Day.

His blasphemy was punished. The ship was condemned to sail forever, never making port, its crew unable to die. They would know neither rest nor release until the end of time.

Other versions name the captain as Bernard Fokke, a Dutch captain notorious for his speed (achieved, rumour suggested, through a pact with the Devil). Still others place the story in the eighteenth century or associate it with different transgressions: murder, gambling with the Devil, or defiance of divine will during a storm.

Historical Sightings

Whatever its origin, the Flying Dutchman has been reported repeatedly over the centuries. The sightings share common features: a ship glimpsed at a distance, often in stormy conditions, glowing or luminous, which vanishes when approached.

1835: The crew of a British ship reported seeing the Flying Dutchman off the Cape of Good Hope. A boat was lowered to intercept the vessel, but it disappeared before they could reach it.

1881: The most famous sighting was recorded in the ship’s log of HMS Bacchante. Prince George (later King George V) and his brother Prince Albert Victor were serving as midshipmen when the phantom ship was observed:

“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 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.”

The lookout who first sighted the phantom died in a fall from the rigging later that day. The admiral of the fleet died shortly after reaching port.

1939: The Dutchman was reportedly seen by dozens of people from the beach at Glencairn, South Africa. Witnesses described a seventeenth-century sailing ship under full sail, though there was no wind. The ship vanished as they watched.

1942: Four witnesses in Cape Town reported seeing a sailing ship enter Table Bay, then vanish. A Nazi submarine was operating in the area at the time; some suggested the apparition was an omen of the war at sea.

Explanations

Several explanations have been proposed for Flying Dutchman sightings:

Fata Morgana: A superior mirage can project images of ships beyond the horizon, making them appear to float in the air. In certain conditions, a ship far out at sea might appear much closer and stranger than it is.

Phosphorescence: The ocean can glow with bioluminescent organisms. A ship sailing through such waters might appear lit from within.

Hallucination: Sailors on long voyages, exhausted and stressed, might hallucinate or misinterpret natural phenomena. The expectation of seeing the Dutchman could influence perception.

Actual Ships: An ordinary ship, glimpsed briefly through fog or spray, might be misidentified as the phantom.

Yet none of these explanations fully accounts for the consistency of the reports across centuries and observers. The Flying Dutchman is described in similar terms by witnesses who could not have coordinated their accounts.

The Meaning

Why does the legend persist? The Flying Dutchman embodies fears and beliefs that transcend any particular era.

The sea is a realm of uncertainty, where familiar laws do not always apply. Sailors have always known that they might not return from a voyage, that the ocean might claim them forever. The Dutchman represents this fear made manifest: the voyage that never ends, the return that never comes.

The legend also carries a moral dimension. Van der Decken’s sin was hubris: the arrogance that defied nature and God. His punishment fits his crime: he wanted to sail forever, and so he does. The story warns against overreaching, against challenging forces greater than ourselves.

And perhaps, on some level, the Flying Dutchman represents something that cannot be explained away. Perhaps, in the vast reaches of the ocean, ships do sail that should not sail, crewed by men who should have died centuries ago, bound on voyages that will end only when the world ends.

Readers with knowledge of Flying Dutchman sightings or similar maritime apparitions are invited to contact our research department.