I was inspired to ask this, because i just heard the Richard wagner overture. Supposedly the “Flying Dutchman” is a ghost ship, manned by ghosts, who are condemned to sail the seas for all time. Supposedly, the ship was sighted off South Africa in 1936. has it been seen recntly? And what is the take on this-is it a mirage or optical illusion?
Many of “Flying Dutchman” ships were actually ships abandoned by crew - due to outburst of sudden epidemy, piracy, several damage, alien abduction… well, maybe not alien abduction. Sometimes ship supposed to sink didn’t (for example when it had load of buoyant stuff) and just drifted with winds scaring beejezus from all superstitious seamen met along it’s route.
I saw it recently.
Admitedly it was in the new Pirates of the Carribean movie.
Does that count?
Cite?
Well known Mary Celeste for one. Many more examples in this book.
I not so sure about the many part. From your link, a customer review
(bolding mine)
While I don’t doubt there have been a few cases strannge abandonment, the Mary Celeste is the only one that comes to mind.
I must check my old copy of “The Bermuda Triangle Mystery Solved” by Lawrence David Kusche. I think there were a few cases of abandoned ships in there somewhere.
There’s a well documented case of an abandoned racing yacht, the pilot went a bit mad when the stress of cheating got to him. He sat around in the Atlantic making up observations then decided to end it all and threw himself overboard with the yacht’s log. I wish I could remember his name, a short documentary on the man made for sad viewing, especially when they replayed some of his log/radio messages.
Got it, Google-fu was lacking there; Donald Crowhurst.
I’m pretty sure I saw him posting in The BBQ Pit, last night.
That’s one way Amazon differs from the SDMB - nobody ever seems to yell, “cite?” at the reviewers. I’ve tried, but they refuse to post those. I digress.
The Mary Celeste was found abandoned in 1872, approximately a month after it set sail for Genoa, Italy from New York City. It appeared to have deliberately abandoned, and the lifeboat had been launched. A bloody sword was found underneath the captain’s bed, there were some bloodstains on the ship’s railing, and a couple other oddities. None of the ship’s seven crew members, the captain, nor his wife or child were ever found. Obviously, something happened, but nobody will every know what. That’s pretty much all there is to it. [obligatory Wikipedia link]
The rest of the stories surrounding the ship are the result of some wild imaginations and good storytelling. The half-eaten meal construct was invented by Arthur Conan Doyle in his short story J. Habakuk Jephson’s Statement, part of “The Captain of the Polestar”, the text of which can be found here.
Bah. That’s what I get for not being an active poster for a couple years. Screwed up coding. The above quote was not from Caffeine Cat. It came from a customer review on Amazon, from a link she posted. Apologies.
Well, it’s possible that I linked to wrong book. I read it in translation (so title meaning was the same) some time ago - but I’m not sure about author… So it could be another book about ghost ships. I’ll try to find it in the attic and check author name. Lesson learned - never link to book you don’t have in hand.
Other examples from wikipedia links are MV Joyita, High Aim 6 and Jian Seng.
I have it on good authority that the Flying Dutchman may be seen rounding the cape of good hope about 23:59 GMT August 4, 2006.
Legend, Ghost Story, Fable, Tall Tale, P&SBS
How about this one from a little while back:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13189295/
No crew, 7 months, 4,800 miles and it shows up in Hilo.
The Flying Dutchman’s got nothing on her!
Not one of these scared the bejeesus out of anybody. They were just found abandoned.
“'twere wee, the black ship on the horizon. It has bewoken our end.”
Cpt. Pieter Halbrecht (commision: Dutch East India Co.)
Dang, I thought Coldfire got a pilots license…
Cite?
