The Flying Dutchman

Much has been written in regards to the legendary spectral ship called the "Flying Dutchman" and yet, accordingly to folk lure, the Flying Dutchman was not the name of the ship but rather referred to her captain, Bernard Fokker (some believe it was a Dutchman named Vanderdecken), who acquire the nick name due his uncanny ability to make fast trips from Holland to Java, in the mid-seventh century. Many believed that his ability to perform this feat was linked directly to his rumored association with the devil. Employed by the East India Trading Company, it was on one such voyage that his ship ran to a powerful gale he approached the Cape of Good Hope. The gale was unnaturally severe and threatened to sink his ship and all aboard. The passengers and crew pleaded with Captain Fokker to make for a safe port but the maniacal Dutchman, being either mad or drunk, refused their pleas. Instead he cursed God almighty for his bad fortune. When some of the crew mutinied, the drunk captain shot the leader of the mutiny and had the body thrown overboard. No sooner had the body hit the water when the clouds parted and a mysterious figure appeared on the quarterdeck.

“You are a stubborn man”, the shadowy figure said, to which the captain answered with a stream of cusswords. “ I never asked for a peaceful passage”, he continued, “I never asked for anything. So clear off before I shoot you as well !" The figure did not move, so the captain drew a second pistol and tried to fire a shot but the pistol exploded in his hand. As a result of he, his crew and his ship were told that they were condemned to sail the oceans for eternity. Reckless to the end, the captain screamed out “ Amen to that for I will round this Cape (Cape of Good Hope) even if I have to keep sailing this ship until doomsday”! Legends has it that the the captain's wish was fulfilled and his curse was established for neither he, his crew, his passengers or his ship ever made port again.

With the passage of time, and especially since the release of Pirates of the Caribbean's "Dead Man's Chest" (2006) and " At Worlds End" (2007), the name "The Flying Dutchman" has been linked more to the ship than the mad Dutchman who was her captain. In these two block-buster movies, the ship's captain is none other than the grotesque half man-half octopus Captain Davy Jones himself (itself?). The ship in the Disney movie was inspired by the seventeenth century Dutch “Fluyt” , the “Vasa”, a real-life Swedish warship which sank in 1628. But here the similarity abruptly ends. The "Dutchman", which is able to sail as easily beneath the sea as on it, can also sail equally as fast against the wind or with no wind at all ,as having the wind in her stern. Reflecting her strong ties with the sea, the ship is heavily encrusted with sea life, her structure consisting more of organic plant matter (and some of her own unfortunate crew) than timber and sail. The ship's stern, a sight witnessed by few human sailors, was covered with lamps and windows arranged in the pattern of a fanged mouth. The deck above was intertwined with the skeletons of ferocious sea beasts. A live sea serpent was also attached to the side of the boat, which Jones would send out to collect souls. Her entire appearance, which suggest long periods of time being submerged, is both sinister and overwhelming to behold.

The Flying Dutchman is very heavily armed with port and starboard guns. She carries 46 broadside guns, 23 on each side; 18 twelve pound guns are located on the main deck, 20 twenty-four pounders on the gun deck, and 8 twelve pounders on the upper deck: 4 on the quarter-deck and 4 in the forecastle. The gun-ports on the gun deck are in the shape of demon faces, each one with a unique facial expression, with the ports appearing at the open mouths. On the bow she also mounts a pair of bow chasers, each in the form of a triple-barreled gun. Both triple guns fire six pound cannonballs. Each separate barrel fires individually, but the trio rotates to present a fresh barrel to fire again in the style of a Gatling gun. In the aft, there are also two cannons, all of which, when not in use, are concealed behind doors carved in the shape of an angry demon's maw. In total, she has an armament consisting of 54 cannons plus 2 swivel guns on the quarterdeck.

Periodically, I will post a member of the Flying Dutchman's crew. Some have served in two of the movies, while some were seen in only one. The fist one shown is PENROD. He was a small, lobster-like crewman serving aboard the Flying Dutchman in both Dead Man's Chest and At Worlds End of the Pirates of the Caribbean movie series.

His body was covered with numerous armored plates and two antennae protruded from his head. Penrod was one of the four most trusted mates aboard the Flying Dutchman, along with Maccus, Ratlin and Angler.

During the confrontation with Captain Jack Sparrow aboard the Black Pearl, in which Sparrow bargained for his life with Davy Jones, Penrod held a knife to Marty's throat. Later, he was watching a game of Lier's Dice being played by Koleniko and Maccus when Will Turner challenged Jones. When Davy Jones was killed, the curse on the Dutchman was lifted, and Penrod became human once again. The part of Penrod was played by actor Peter Donald Badalamenti II.