• Legendary Ghost Ship: Flying Dutchman •
The Flying Dutchman is a ghost ship, described as a ship that is unable to make port, and must wander the endless sea forever. The reason is due to the ship's deranged captain committing atrocious crimes. He brought about God's wrath, who then punished him and cursed the ship. It is a bad omen when the ship does appear.
According to sailors, if hailed by another ship, the crew of the Flying Dutchman might try to send messages to land, or to people long dead. Reported sightings been going on for a few centuries claimed that the ship glowed with a ghostly light. They say, the sight of this phantom ship functions as a portent of doom. It was commonly believed by many sailors that the Flying Dutchman was an old century cargo vessel known as a fluyt.
There have been many reported or alleged sightings. Two well-known sighting was by the adventurer Montblanc Noland in his logbook and explorer Louis Arnote, one of the authors of Brag Men, a famous book which contains many stories from the Grand Line.
In Noland's logbook, it states, that he was on a three-year voyage with his crew and stop on a port on Sabody for restock. The log records the following for the pre-dawn hours of 11 July 1881, off the coast of Sabody:
July 11th. At 4 a.m. I can't believe my eyes while writing this, but a light blue ghostly ship the Flying Dutchman crossed our bows. This strange blue light phantom ship was all a glowing, 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 passing by on the port bow, me and my crew also the officers 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 top gallant forecastle and was smashed to atoms.
Explorer Louis Arnote wrote in one his chapter pages, about his fellow explorers crossing path with a ghostly blue ship.
It says;
Late one night in October, Louis Arnote, who is the master of the small vessel, was getting ready to weigh anchor when he was startled by a shriek from one of his crew member. "A strange ship with a big black flag a big black flag was rushing down at us". "She was afire with a sort of weird, pale-blue light that lighted up every nook and cranny of her, was rushing down at us".
They spotted a man dressed in Captain outfit was steering the ship, he paid us no attention, didn't even glance our way. He had ghastly bleeding wounds, but his faces and eyes were those of dead men.
"The man who had shrieked had fallen to his knees, with his teeth chattering, as he let out prayer. Overcoming my own terror, I rushed forward, shouting to the others as I ran. Suddenly the ship vanished before my eyes." Some say that it was The Flying Dutchman and the man they saw was the ship's deranged captain who committing atrocious crimes."
Over the years many people have claimed to have spotted The Flying Dutchman from Pirates to Marines.
Many accounts came from people like pirates like; Worst Generation, Seven Warlords of the Sea, and the Four Emperors.
And Marines like Admirals, Vice Admirals, Rear Admirals, Commanders, Captains, Seaman First Class, Seaman Apprentices, and Seaman Recruits.
There's another scary account that ties in to the Flying Dutchman specifically the captain, Vander, who wrote a cursed poem that kills anyone who recites it out loud.