Flying Dutchman

Flying Dutchman is a folklore legend from Cape of Good Hope, South Africa, dated to ~1588 AD (Early Modern era).

The Flying Dutchman (Dutch: De Vliegende Hollander) is a legendary ghost ship doomed to sail the seas eternally, never able to reach port. The myth likely originated during the 17th-century Golden Age of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) and Dutch maritime power. The oldest documented version of the legend dates to the late 18th century.

According to folklore, if the ghostly vessel hails another ship, its crew might attempt to send messages to land or to people who died long ago. Nineteenth and twentieth-century sighting reports often described the ship glowing with an eerie, supernatural light. In maritime tradition, glimpsing this phantom vessel serves as an omen of impending disaster.

The Flying Dutchman was widely believed to have been a 17th-century Dutch cargo vessel called a fluyt.