When you think of legends of the seven seas
that sailors would tell to one another there are multiple stories and
superstitions that come to mind. The sailing community is one of the most
superstitious in my opinion. Sailors have good luck rituals that are able to
fill a book, oh wait I googled that and found about 50 different books on
sailor superstitions, that’s a good confirmation to my statement. However in
all seriousness with even the modern and highly technical equipment that the
Navy uses today the superstitious ways are still prevalent. And just equally
just as prevalent are the sea stories of legend and the one in particular I’m
referencing is that of the Flying Dutchman.
Most people have hard of the Flying Dutchman
legend but more likely in the bastardized Hollywood scenario such as is with
the Pirates Of The Caribbean and even Sponge Bob Squarepants. There are many
people out there who do not know the legend of the Flying Dutchman has been
around since the 17th century.
This nautical tale is that of a doomed
shipped that can never make port and is in fact a ghost ship. There are
different accounts that some would try and signal to the ship to see if they
could communicate with it, but in most of the stories the sight of the Flying
Dutchman always spelled impending doom on to those witnesses. The origin of the
story is a bit of a mystery as there are a few Dutch ships that have been
associated with the story. However the one aspect that is the same is that a
mighty storm had taken the ship along with the lives of the men who sailed upon
her.
Bad weather is most usually associated with
the spotting of such a ghostly ship as well as the impeding doom to those who
spot her, but again the story is unclear as to why the ship is doomed to
phantom sail the seas. Some say that a disgruntled captain made a threat to the
seas and the winds, how that would make you be eternally damned I’m not sure,
but oh well.
There are those out there who have tried to
explain the ghostly ship as merely an optical illusion. These such optical
illusion are called looming of Fata Morgana in which the sea reflection sends
the image to the sky and because of certain weather conditions shows what
appears to be a ship. I would go into the complete scientific break down of it,
and while I could, I will let you do some research instead of me spoon feeding
you all the information.
I am a person who would love nothing more
than to see a spectral sip sailing across the sky during an impending storm.
However I also realize that this is nothing more than a sailors tale of legend
and lore, a good story, but simply just that…a story.
Be safe and wear a life jacket,
Jon Bolton
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