The Flying Dutchman

Do you recognize this picture of The Flying Dutchman? If you have a brother or sister on an athletic team at SOCSD, you probably do. It’s the logo for our sports teams. Did you ever wonder why?

What’s the connection between SOCSD and a ship owned by the Dutch in the 1600’s? What’s the connection between The Flying Dutchman and Ms. Christie-Blick in Africa?? What’s the connection between a ghost ship and an SOCSD student??? I know you’ll start putting the pieces together in your mind as you read this gruesome tale….

The Cape of Good Hope on the southern tip of Africa.

Picture this. Captain Van der Decken and his crew are in a jolly mood aboard their magnificent sailing ship, The Flying Dutchman. It’s just as well they don’t know the disaster that’s just waiting to happen. For now, they are happy. They’ve been away from home for over a year, but it’s been worth it. They’ve sailed the Atlantic Ocean and the Indian Ocean, from Holland all the way around the tip of southern Africa to China. Now they’re on their way home to family and friends. Their schooner is loaded with the finest silk material made, and the most exotic spices that will soon be added to make Dutch food taste more exciting. The captain and his crew will be paid handsomely when they return. Life will be good.

The Flying Dutchman sailed south, around the Cape of Good Hope from Europe to Asia. Picture source: map-world.net.

The large sails of The Flying Dutchman are filled with wind as the ship picks up speed. They’re nearing the Cape of Good Hope on the southern tip of Africa. Joy turns to concern, and then to horror, as the captain watches the dark storm clouds approaching. All too quickly, the once-friendly wind becomes their enemy. Instead of pushing them toward home, it’s ripping the sails and churning the water. A huge wave washes across the deck of the ship. Sailors scurry to tie down ropes and manage sails as the captain tries to steer the ship away from the coast.

The waves of the Atlantic Ocean bash against the cliffs of The Cape of Good Hope.

For hours, Captain Van der Decken and his crew fight the storm, but these large burly men are too small and too weak compared with the strength of wind and water. The storm is in control of the ship now. It pushes The Flying Dutchman closer and closer to the jagged coastline of the Cape of Good Hope. There is no good hope today.

The ship suddenly lurches to a stop. Men are knocked off their feet by the jolt as the sickening sound of crunching wood is heard above the pounding waves and flapping sails. The Flying Dutchman has crashed into the rocks of The Cape. Water rushes in as the boat plunges downward and all men aboard go down with the ship. The captain yells in final defiance before he too is swallowed by the seas, “I will round this cape even if I have to keep sailing until Doomsday!”

Painting of “The Flying Dutchman” by Louis Michel Eilshemius 1908. (Picture source: thecityreview.com)

Since that fateful day, there have been many more storms in the treacherous waters off the Cape of Good Hope. The sailors – the ones who survive, that is – tell of seeing the ghost of The Flying Dutchman at the height of the storm, trying once again to round the Cape of Good Hope. They say that Captain Van der Decken refuses to give in and admit defeat.

A lighthouse was built on the edge of Cape Point warning ships to stay far away from this cape and nearby Cape of Good Hope.

Photo taken from Cape of Good Hope, looking at Cape Point. A “cape” is a point of land that sticks out into the ocean.

My husband and I visited the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Point. Note the latitude and longitude coordinates!

Standing at Cape Point. Look how many kilometers we are from New York. Chirpy and I are a long way from home!