Sailing on the seas in ancient times was fraught with many dangers. The death of people during storms caused not only fear of the elements, but also gave rise to many sad songs. Sometimes in the sea there were ships on which there was not a single person. There were also such ships on which only human remains were found. And immediately various mystical tales and legends arose. A whole cycle of legends was created about the "Flying Dutchman" - a ghost ship, a meeting with which at sea did not bode well. It is believed that the legend of the "Flying Dutchman" originated in Holland at the beginning of the 17th century.

AT old times there lived in Holland the red-haired captain Van Straaten, who was said to love gold more than himself. He recruited a team for the ship from inveterate thugs, and they all unquestioningly obeyed him. He was stern and cruel to everyone, and to pacify the rebellious, he carried with him a whip with a lead ball on the end.

Van Straaten was considered the most successful captain. To get on his ship meant good money. He paid his sailors good money. Van Straaten sailed to the shores of India, Australia, New Zealand. From there he took on board precious stones, gold items, spices, silk fabrics. Often he brought with him live goods - slaves. In the slave market, they sold well and brought the captain a considerable profit.

Captain Van Straaten liked to talk about his adventures. From him, residents of coastal fishing villages learned about fatal currents, insidious storm winds, abandoned ships plowing the sea, about treasures hidden by pirates on distant islands, sea maidens and devils hiding in the abyss. Van Straaten was considered fearless and lucky. With him, sailors were not afraid of stormy currents, strong winds, storms and sea devils.

Once Van Straaten argued with a visiting captain that he could easily go around Cape Horn - the end point of South America, go against the current and against the wind. When he returns, he will tell about his adventure, and as proof he will bring with him American Indians. All the captains present at the fishing restaurant made a bet with him.

Cape Horn is the most dangerous place for the passage of ships. The waters of the three oceans converge there, the winds rage forever there. Even experienced "sea wolves" rarely dared to go around it. They said that this is a cursed place, where the sea devil lies chained with heavy chains at the bottom. As soon as he sees a ship sailing above him, he begins to rage, trying to destroy him. It causes waves, sends winds. That's who you need to pray for indulgence.

Van Straaten didn't want to listen to anyone. He said that he would definitely round Cape Horn and return to Holland safe and sound. He got himself new team, re-equipped the ship, set new sails, loaded corned beef, wine and set sail. But this time he was not lucky. He made his way to Cape Horn with great difficulty.

Storms, rains badly battered his ship, food supplies ran out, the team demanded to moor to the shore, and he stubbornly continued on his way, trying to go around Cape Horn. It just didn't work for him. As soon as his ship began to go around the cape, a terrible wind began to blow, giant waves rose on the sea, they broke the masts, tore off the sails. Van Straaten sailed back, looking for a calm bay, where he was repairing the ship.
Finally, he was tired of such a game of cat and mouse with the elements. Once again swimming to Cape Horn, he shouted:

Hey sea devil, calm down. Let me pass the cape, I will faithfully serve you.
Suddenly the wind died down, the waves subsided, and Van Straaten's battered ship rounded Cape Horn. The captain hoped to deceive the sea devil, but he did not succeed ...

One of the sailors who fled from his ship said that Van Straaten now serves the sea devil, who gave the captain eternal life. Since then, Van Straaten's ship has been floating on the waves near modern Cape Town. His ship has become a ghost, he scares the sailors, knocks them off course. Such a task was given to him by the sea devil, to whom the captain sold his soul.

Legends of the Flying Dutchman

The most famous ghost ship has long been considered the Flying Dutchman, mentioned in many legends. There are many versions of the legend.

In the Dutch version, Captain Van Straten was a stubborn man who swore at all costs to sail along the Cape of Storms, now known as the Cape of Good Hope. The ship sank, but since then the crew of the ship from the dead, along with the ghostly captain, is doomed to eternal wandering on the waves.

Moreover, according to legend, the ghost of the "Flying Dutchman" portends death for any ship or part of its crew. Therefore, sailors are afraid of him like fire, every time falling into a panic at the sight of this mysterious ship. And the “Dutchman” can appear in any guise - either it will appear in the form of a cloud on the horizon, or it will pass by the oncoming ship almost like a real sailboat.

In historical materials and old magazines of the Antwerp merchant shipyard it is written that in May 1673 a caravel-class sailboat was launched into the water, named just like that - “The Flying Dutchman”. The money for its construction was provided by one of the richest merchants of the free trading city Mr John von der Falk. Herr Falk already had several ships for travel and trade, but the new sailboat was superior to any of them, including speed, ease of movement and excellent equipment. It is for the speed that the ship got its name.

The crew was also to match the sailboat - they were especially meticulously selected for the new ship. And the famous became the captain sea ​​wolf Jan van der Straten. He had many difficult miles behind him, and no matter how hard it was, no matter how the waves foamed, no matter how the storm ruffled the sails, Captain Straten always steered the ship confidently. That was why he was famous for the fact that while he was at the helm, not one of his ships was lost and was not even thrown aground.

True, they said that the new captain was not only skilled in maritime affairs, but also devilishly proud. However, Straten, not without reason, believed that it was hardly possible to find among the sailors his equal in skill and courage. At the same time, he did not believe in God or the devil, he was not afraid to commemorate them in vain, not stinting on cursing lazy and recalcitrant sailors.

The first two flights of the Flying Dutchman were successful: he went to the West Indies for a cargo of precious wood and amazing fabrics. The second voyage was also successful.

1675, June - The Flying Dutchman went on his third voyage: rounding the Cape of Good Hope at the southern tip of Africa and entering several trading ports along the way, the ship was supposed to take the most valuable cargo of incense from India. And from this flight, neither the "Flying Dutchman" nor his team returned.

It should be noted that in those ancient times, sailboats often perished during storms, flew into underwater rocks unknown to cartographers, or, in order to avoid death at sea, were thrown ashore, where the crew ended up in the hands of hostile local tribes. And it was far from always possible to find out what happened to this or that ship, simply because there was not a single living witness to the tragedy left. This probably happened with the Flying Dutchman. And this is where the story ends and the legend begins.


Just two or three years after the ship went missing, it was first seen by the sailors of the Antwerp merchant ship Mary's Blessing. A gloomy sight appeared before their eyes: Captain Straten was on the bridge, the crew easily handled the snow-white sails, which were inflated by an unknown wind (at that time there was a complete calm, and the Blessing of Mary calmly drifted in southern waters waiting for the wind). The caravel sped past like a ghost and disappeared from sight before the sailors had time to come to their senses.

That same evening, a violent storm broke out, and after several hours of unequal struggle with the sea, the captain of the ship "Mary's Blessing" decided to throw the battered and leaking ship on the rocks that could be seen in the distance. In fact, this was the only way to save the team. The rocks turned out to be a tiny uninhabited island. Nearly all the sailors there died of starvation and disease. The last two sailors were picked up by a passing ship six months later. From them, Falk learned that the "Flying Dutchman" continues to surf the ocean.

Information about the ghost caravel, sailing at full sail in full calm or even against the wind, the meeting with which promised misfortune and death, was increasingly heard from the miraculously surviving sailors various countries peace. These testimonies were so numerous and coincided in detail (even among people who did not know each other) that it was impossible to call them a marine story or drunken chatter. In addition, there are many testimonies of respected people: famous writers, members of the imperial families - English and Portuguese, scientists and military men who saw the "Flying Dutchman" with their own eyes.

Legends speak of the curse of a ghost ship. Apparently, the version that Captain Van der Straten argued with his drinking companions - Captain Fock and Count Falkenberg - that he would go around the Cape of Good Hope in spite of God and the devil, was born shortly after the disappearance of the caravel and its appearance already as a ship - ghost. For his pride, the captain was cursed along with the crew, and the ship "Flying Dutchman" was doomed to go around the ill-fated cape forever.

There is another version of the story of the fatal curse. Say, the eternal blasphemer and desperate daredevil Straten bet with the devil on his soul that he would reach the West Indies from Europe in just three months. When the unclean one from the underworld saw that a skilled captain was winning the bet, he turned the sails of the ship into uncontrollable iron sheets.

There is also a third story. It is she who is considered the truth in Holland, because she was recorded in 1678 from the words of a sailor of the trading schooner "Guardian Angel".

Having set out on her last voyage, the Dutchman safely reached the southern tip of Africa, making several advantageous calls at local trading ports along the way. But it was not in vain that the Cape of Good Hope bore another name - Cape of Storms. And there the ship got into a severe storm. It was a new ship, light and fast, so the crew managed to cope with the storm almost without loss. But suddenly a sinking ship that ran aground appeared not far away - it was the "Guardian Angel". His team had already moved into boats, but it was almost impossible to escape in such a storm on fragile boats.

Save the drowning, even at the risk own life and by ship, the first law of the sea, and Captain Strathen, of course, could not have been unaware of this. And yet he did not even try to approach the boats. The captain gave the command "Left rudder!" to quickly move away from the dangerous underwater rock.

In vain they called for help from the boats: the caravel went further and further behind a dense curtain of rain and spray. And then, abandoned to the mercy of fate, the sailors cursed the cruel captain and his crew. “Just as we will never see the shore, so you will not be destined to set foot on solid ground!” - shouted after the departing "Flying Dutchman" the captain of the "Guardian Angel".

Of the entire crew of the "Angel", only one sailor managed to survive, whom the waves threw ashore unconscious. What happened to his comrades, he did not know, but, having reached his native Antwerp after three whole years, he told this story. At this time, the "Dutchman" had already managed to promise the death of more than one sailing ship in the ocean.

This is how the ship "Flying Dutchman" became the eternal herald of misfortune. And no one knows how long he is destined to walk on the waves and go around the Cape of Good Hope. True, they say that any curse can be removed by a woman whose heart is full of love. But all the wives and girlfriends of the sailors of the damned caravel have long been in the grave. And where will a woman come from now on a ship that has not landed on the shore for many centuries? ..

In the German version of the legend, the "Flying Dutchman" sailed in the North Sea. From time to time the devil visited the captain and played dice with him, demanding to stake his soul. Once the captain lost, and his soul turned into a ghost, which was severely sentenced.

In a version published in 1821 in an English magazine, the ship was sailing along the Cape of Good Hope when a storm began. The crew begged the captain to change course in order to take refuge in a safe bay, but he refused and ridiculed the sailors for showing cowardice. Meanwhile the storm was getting stronger; the captain, shaking his fist at the sky, cursed God for the test sent down.

Immediately a ghost appeared on the deck, but the warlike sailor ordered him to get away, threatening to shoot him. Seeing that the guest was not listening to him, the captain pulled out a pistol and fired at the unexpected herald, but the weapon exploded right in his hand. The ghost sent the sailor a curse to forever rush along the waves, tormenting the sailors from their own despair. Those who see the damned ship will face misfortune.

There are other versions of the legend. According to one of them, the sailboat was sentenced to eternal wandering because the captain was extremely cruel. According to another legend, a goddess appeared on the deck of the ship, but the captain insulted her. Her revenge is not to know the ship of rest until the Last Judgment.

The great German poet Heinrich Heine gave the story of the Flying Dutchman a vivid romantic touch and added a new element to the existing plot. Once every 7 years, the captain was allowed to go ashore to try to free himself from the curse by winning the love of a virgin girl. Composer Richard Wagner used this variant in his opera The Flying Dutchman. Wagner called the captain van Derdeken, and the girl he proposed to - Senta.

The ghost of the ship, which was recognized as the "Flying Dutchman", was seen in 1923 at the Cape of Good Hope. He was watched by four sailors, one of whom, years later, reported this to Ernest Bennett, a member of the Society for the Study of Psychic Phenomena. Bennett, in turn, wrote about this in the book Ghosts and Haunted Houses. Eyewitness Testimony (1934).

According to the story of assistant captain N.Ston, the ghost was once again noticed at a quarter past midnight on January 26, 1923. The day before, a ship en route from Australia to London passed Cape Town. Ston writes:

“About 0:15 at night, we saw a strange glow ahead on the port side. It was pitch dark, there was continuous cloud cover, the moon did not shine. We looked through the binoculars and the ship's telescope and distinguished the luminous outlines of a moving ship, a two-masted one, the empty yards also glowed, no sails were visible, but there was a light luminous haze between the masts.

They weren't navigation lights. The ship seemed to be heading straight for us, and its speed was the same as ours. When we first noticed him, he was about two or three miles away from us, and when he was half a mile away from us, he suddenly disappeared. This spectacle was observed by four people: the second assistant, the trainee, the helmsman and myself. I can’t forget the frightened exclamation of the second officer: “God, this is a ghost ship!”

N. Ston described what the ship looked like, which was imprinted in his memory for the rest of his life. His story was confirmed to Bennett by the second mate, but no other witnesses could be found. In explaining the causes of such phenomena, Bennett agrees with Frederick W. Myers, who argued that some forms of consciousness, after experiencing death, are able to telepathically project images (including material images) to living people who perceive them as ghosts.

According to this statement, the ghost of the Flying Dutchman is an image projected telepathically by its dead crew. The theory of telepathic projection has been used ever since as a possible explanation for the appearance of ghosts.

One of the most famous cruise ships of the 20th century, the Queen Mary is still a famous attraction for many tourists today. It was launched on September 26, 1934 in Glasgow. According to eyewitnesses, the liner became the real owner of several ghosts. Among them - 17-year-old sailor John Pedder, who drowned in 1966, a woman in a white dress and a little boy, it is not clear how he ended up on the ship and became a phantom.

According to another legend about the "Flying Dutchman", its captain was Philip van der Decken, who went in 1689 from Amsterdam to the port of the East Indies. The caravel got into a strong storm - of course, at the Cape of Good Hope.

The captain did not take the danger seriously. And soon the dilapidated ship sank along with the entire crew. According to legend, this was God's punishment for the fact that the captain ignored the danger warning.

One of the eyewitnesses of the appearance of the ghost ship was the crew of a British ship in 1835. Sailors said that in a terrible storm another ship approached the side of their ship, according to descriptions similar to the Flying Dutchman. He passed so close that the ships almost collided with their sides, then just as suddenly disappeared.

The ghost ship was again seen by two members of the crew of HMS Bacchante in 1881. A day later, one of the eyewitnesses died. strange death. In 1939, off the coast of South Africa, a ghostly caravel was seen by dozens of people relaxing on the beach. Surprisingly, they accurately described the same merchant ship that appeared directly from the 17th century. Last time The Flying Dutchman was seen off the coast of Cape Town, and four witnesses claimed that he appeared on the horizon, sailed for a while, and then seemed to melt on the horizon.

Legend of the Flying Dutchman

The Flying Dutchman is a ghost ship that is doomed to sail the oceans forever and can never land on the shore, and a meeting with this terrible sailboat always promises terrible troubles. The story goes that he only appears on a stormy night...
With all his might, he strives to get closer to the desired shore, but as soon as this happens, the ship disappears, as if it never existed. The reason is a terrible curse placed on him...
So what happened? Previously, the "Flying Dutchman" was an ordinary Dutch sailing ship that calmly plowed the waters of different oceans. But one day, in 1641, when the ship was on its way from the Dutch East Indies colonies to Europe, its captain Van Straaten took on board several passengers. Among them was a young beautiful girl(she, by the way, traveled with her fiancé), which the captain of the ship really liked. Passion completely captured the madman: not knowing what he was doing, Van Straaten killed young man, and then told the girl who charmed him that he himself would take the place of her fiancé. However, the girl did not share his plans for the future and, saying that she wanted to be with her beloved forever, she jumped overboard.


The captain is completely mad with unrequited love! And then, as luck would have it, the ship was caught in a severe storm. It happened not far from the Cape of Good Hope, in places famous for hurricane winds and strong currents. All the sailors understood that they needed to return and wait out the storm in some quiet place, they, along with the passengers, began to beg Van Straaten to do this. But he, pumped up with alcohol, decided that he didn’t care. He gathered a team and said that let everyone before him die in a storm in these ominous waters, and he will do everything to go around the Cape of Good Hope! Everyone asked him to take pity on them and turn back, but Van Straaten, angry at everyone, only cursed and threatened to kill those who would not take his side. A riot broke out on the ship - the captain, without a drop of regret, shot all the instigators. And he told the rest that no one would leave the ship until it rounded the cape, even if it would take forever to swim. Either the creator did not like these words and he cursed the captain and his ship, or for some other reason, but at that moment a huge wave rose and swallowed the ship with everyone on board. Obviously, the captain is guilty of rudeness, murder, and most importantly, pride: he considered that he alone could compete with the powerful forces of nature and not rely on God's help.


So Van Straaten, his crew and passengers gained immortality. It is said that once every ten years the captain gets the opportunity to go ashore. He goes to land to find himself a new bride. And as soon as there is a girl who sincerely loves this presumptuous arrogant and murderer and marries him, the curse will be lifted and all the prisoners of the ghost ship will be able to return to their homes. In the meantime, the "Flying Dutchman" has been plowing the oceans for several centuries and cannot land on the shore.


Since then, the "Flying Dutchman" began to appear in a storm, especially often he is seen precisely at the Cape of Good Hope. In these latitudes, any ship caught in a storm is almost certainly doomed. BUT horror stories about a ghost ship, above which a luminous halo is visible, and its insane captain, they completely panic the superstitious sailors.

A ghost ship is a ship that is afloat but has no crew or all of its members are dead. Most often, this term is used in various legends and myths, but there are also real cases the appearance of ghost ships, which are documented.


Of course, the most famous ghost ship is the Flying Dutchman, which for sailors is a harbinger of great trouble. Most often, this ghost ship is seen from afar or surrounded by a luminous halo.

According to the legend of the Flying Dutchman, in 1641 the Dutch captain Philip van der Decken sailed from the East Indies on his ship and carried a young couple on board. The captain liked the girl, so he killed her betrothed, and made her an offer to become his wife. The girl refused and jumped overboard, and the ship sailed to the Cape of Good Hope. When trying to go around this cape, the ship got into a strong storm, and superstitious sailors immediately correlated it with the murder of a young couple. Several sailors and a navigator offered to wait out the bad weather in some bay, but the captain killed them and then swore on the bones of his mother that none of his team would go ashore until they rounded the cape, even if it took a month of Sundays. It was with this that the captain caused a curse on his ship, which now with an immortal crew cannot return to earth.

By different versions legends, the curse can be lifted. According to one version, the captain of the Flying Dutchman can go down to earth once every ten years, but in order to remove the curse, he must find a girl who will voluntarily agree to become his wife. According to another version, there is a certain magic word that can remove the curse and put the captain and his team to rest forever.

In addition to the main legend, there are many other versions:

The captain of the ship swore to give his soul to the devil if his ship could pass the cape unscathed. His wish was fulfilled, and he, along with the team, was doomed to eternal wanderings.
- During the storm, the team did not want to take risks and tried to persuade the captain to wait out the bad weather. But the captain of the ship said that he would storm Cape Horn (according to another version, the Cape of Good Hope) until the second coming. In response to these words, a terrible voice was heard from heaven: “So be it - swim!”.
- The ship's crew could get sick terrible disease, in connection with which, they were simply not allowed into the ports. As a result, the crew, without water and food, was forced to plow the seas until all crew members died.
— The crew of the Flying Dutchman were in such a hurry to get home that they didn't come to the rescue of the sinking ship, for which they were cursed.
— The Flying Dutchman came across the pirate ghost ship Kenaroo. The Flying Dutchman's team managed to defeat the Kenara, but the curse of this ship passed to them.
- According to another legend, the captain of the ship played dice with the devil for his own soul.

Possible explanation

Perhaps the sailors did not observe a ghost ship, but the Fata Morgan phenomenon, when various mirages appear above the surface of the water. As for the luminous halo around the ship, it could be the fires of St. Elmo of another ship, which are observed on various high objects, for example, the ship's masts.

Yellow fever could also have contributed to the legend of the Flying Dutchman. This disease is transmitted by mosquitoes that have bred in containers with drinking water. Yellow fever could well have wiped out the entire crew, and a meeting with such a ghost ship was extremely dangerous, as hungry mosquitoes immediately attacked the still healthy crew of the ship.

Real cases of the appearance of ghost ships

Of course, quite often people create legends from scratch, when they simply cannot explain the phenomenon they see, or as a result of numerous retellings, new unfounded details appear. But there are real ghost ships that were found in the seas and delivered to ports.

Perhaps the most famous real ghost ship is the Mary Celeste, which was found on December 4, 1872, 400 miles from Gibraltar by the Dei Gratia. Initially, this ship was called the Amazon and had a bad reputation. The first captain of this ship died on its maiden voyage, the ship changed owners many times, and in 1869, during a storm, it was thrown ashore. After that, the ship was sold to an American, who renamed it "Mary Celeste" ("Mary of Heaven").

The ship Mary Celeste was sailing from Staten Island, Italy with a cargo of rectified alcohol. There was a crew of 7 on board, as well as the captain, his wife and two-year-old daughter.

The Mary Celeste was discovered a month after leaving the port, without a crew and without visible external damage. The hatch covers were slightly damaged, the bow hatch doors were torn off and lay on the deck, between the bulkheads and the decks there was water, about one meter high. Another important detail is that the chronometer and sextant were not found in their places, and one of the lifeboats was not in its place, which hints at the evacuation of the crew. The rest of the ship was intact, down to the smallest detail: in the captain's cabin there was a jewelry box and bundles of money, the captain's wife's sewing machine stood with unfinished sewing, the sailors' pipes were folded in a special place, the food supply was intact, and the cargo was intact.

The discovery of the ship has given rise to a plethora of rumors, from pirate attacks to mutiny and exposure. bermuda triangle. But all these options were completely swept aside by the facts: the pirates would rather take valuable cargo, jewelry, money or the ship itself than just one boat and crew. In the event of a mutiny, the team would not have left the ship empty-handed either, they would have taken their personal belongings, as well as the captain's belongings, first of all, but all this remained in its place.

All the facts indicate that people themselves left the ship Mary Celeste, the only question is why they did it. The most probable is Cobb's hypothesis about the ignition of alcohol vapors. According to this hypothesis, the alcohol barrels were leaky, causing alcohol vapor to accumulate in the hold. The first explosion occurred in the aft hold, but it was not powerful enough to rip off the wooden hatch covers. The captain sent the sailors to check what was the matter, so they removed the hatch covers, but at that moment a second, more powerful explosion in the bow hold, which simply knocked out the hatch covers.

Fearing new explosions, the crew hastily evacuated from the ship. This is evidenced by the fact that the captain took the ship's documents, the chronometer, and the sextant (they tried to remove the compass by breaking it), but forgot to take the ship's log. At the same time, the cook managed to take the already prepared food from the ship - it was not on the ship.

Of course, no one was going to completely leave the ship, most likely, the captain planned to move to a safe distance and return later. There was no long enough towing cable on the ship, so a derrick halyard was used as it - a long tackle that raises a slanting sail.

A new explosion did not occur, since the hatches of the holds were already open, and alcohol vapors did not accumulate in a confined space. But people did not have time to return to the ship. Most likely, the changed wind filled the sails, and the ship quickly picked up speed, while the derrick halyard could not withstand a sharp jerk and broke off. The crowded boat simply did not have a chance to catch up with the unmanaged ship, on which they simply did not have time to lay down the sails.

The fate of the people was a foregone conclusion, as it was difficult for them to survive. But the ship, after it was found, was used for another 12 years, until in 1885 the captain deliberately crashed it on the reefs off the coast of Haiti in order to obtain insurance.

Other real cases

The English merchant ship Octavius ​​was found in 1775 off the coast of Greenland. In the ship's log, the last entry was the phrase that the ship in 1762 was going to make an attempt to pass through the Northwest Passage, which had not submitted to anyone before. A ship with a frozen crew on board drifted for 13 years.

The ship Beychimo, after being locked in the ice, was abandoned by the crew in 1931. The ship was supposed to sink as soon as it was clear of the pack ice, but it remained afloat and was repeatedly seen by other ships.

Not only large ships become ghost ships. So in 1933, a well-preserved empty lifeboat of the passenger steamer SS Valencia was found, which sank in 1906.

In 2003, a High Aim 6 was found, without a crew. Five days before the discovery, the ship was seen with running engines, and was found with completely empty tanks.

The tanker Jian Seng washed ashore in Australia in 2006, despite a thorough search, not even the owner of the mysterious vessel was found.

In the same 2006, a small ship Bel Amica was discovered. Remains of food, clothes, a map and the flag of Luxembourg were found on board. They even managed to find the owner of the ship, it turned out to be a certain Frank Ruar, but he refused to tell why his ship ended up off the coast of Italy.

In 2007, the catamaran Kaz II was discovered. The small boat's engine was running, and the laptop was in the cabin. The people from the catamaran were never found. Presumably, one of them fell overboard, the second immediately rushed to help him, but the third managed to start the engine and climbed to turn the sail, but in a hurry he got a yardarm on his back and also ended up in the water.

In 2010, Egyptian border guards found an unmarked ship in the Red Sea with drugs on board. Most likely, the ship broke down, and the crew did not wait for "help" from the border guards.

One of the last ghost ships was the Japanese trawler Maru, which was blown into the sea by a tsunami and then was flooded by US border guards off the coast of Alaska.

The Flying Dutchman is a sailboat that is the most legendary ghost ship in existence today.

The legend of Philip van der Decken

The main version of the Flying Dutchman legend dates back to the 16th century, at the peak of the period of the Great Geographical Discoveries. The legend itself does not contain the name of the commander of the ghost ship, but at least two captains are tagging for this candidacy. The first of these is Philip van Der Decken, and the second is Van Straaten. It is no longer possible to say exactly who was the captain of that ship, but Decken already has a personal legend. According to this legend, Philip was a fine and educated young man from Constantinople, but after the brutal murder of his family, everything changed. He left Constantinople and moved to Holland, where he realized that his further path leads to piracy. In legends, he is characterized as a fearless, stern, soulless man with a whip and a red beard, which burns with a red flame during a thunderstorm.

The legend of how the Flying Dutchman becomes a ghost ship with a crew of damned souls begins with a couple of lovers asking to be on board with the captain. A wealthy young man approached Decken with a request to take him and his bride to the island where the bride's father lived. The young man wanted to ask his father for the hand of his daughter, and Philip did not refuse him. During their crossing, the captain found out from the groom's servant that he was carrying untold wealth with him and killed all his servants. Decken threw the groom himself into the sea, and he offered his bride two options for the development of events. Either she becomes his servant, or goes to the bottom with her fiancé. The girl cursed the ship and the captain so that he would never return to land and jumped into the abyss. Since then, the ship and its crew have been floating in the waters of the world's oceans, and are a symbol of "doom" for those who have seen it.

Other versions of the legend

There are many versions of this legend with different plots, but the ending of these legends is always the same - the ship and its crew remain cursed to sail through the seas and oceans until the end of time. Consider the most popular ones:

There is a version that the captain of the ship wanted to go around the Cape of Good Hope and at that time a severe storm began. The navigator asked the captain to wait out the storm, but he shot him in front of the whole team and swore that no one would get off the ship until they rounded the cape, even if it took forever and a voice from the sky said: “So be it! ".

The next version is similar to the previous one, only that the captain sold his soul to the devil in order to go around the cape, but he deceived and doomed him to eternal wanderings.

Another version is that the ship's crew fell ill with a terrible disease and not a single port accepted them, because they were afraid of the spread of the epidemic. As a result, the captain made a deal with the devil in order to stay alive and continue to destroy ships.

The historical background of the legend

The historical background of the legend of the Flying Dutchman lies in the fact that in those days the so-called “yellow fever” raged. Yellow fever is a viral hemorrhagic disease that has an outbreak in South Africa and South America. The disease is transmitted by mosquito bites that breed in food water containers. This disease was quite capable of destroying the entire crew of the ship. Meeting a pirate ship in itself does not bode well, but what if there is also yellow fever on board? Imagine bloody people with blisters all over their bodies storming a ship! This is how the legend of the Flying Dutchman could have been born.

Meetings with the Flying Dutchman do not bode well. It is believed that all who saw this ghost ship die painful deaths. In the XVIII - XX centuries there were many references to meetings with a ghost ship around the world. Highly a large number of references were also in the literature of that time. Recordings are found in the notes of such people as John Layden, Thomas Moore, George Barrington and many others. The most famous meeting with the Dutchman falls on July 11, 1881. This meeting took place with Princes George and his brother Albert Victor of Wales off the coast of Australia in Bass Strait. This meeting became known from Prince George's personal notes. It is also known that within an hour after meeting with the ghost, one of the 13 people who saw the ship died a strange death.