The Flying Dutchman


 * "The Dutchman must always have a captin!" - Davy Jones

The Flying Dutchman is the legendary galleon of the immortal seaman Davy Jones.

The ship, according to pirate folklore it, is a ghost ship that can never go home, and is doomed to sail the oceans forever. The Flying Dutchman is usually spotted from afar, sometimes seen to be glowing with ghostly light. It is said that if she is hailed by another ship, her crew will often try to send messages to land or to people long since dead. In ocean lore, the sight of this phantom ship is reckoned by seafarers to be a portent of doom.

Legend Of The Flying Dutchman
The ship is said to originally have sailed from the Dutch port Terneuzen under the command of Captain Willem Van Der Decken.

The tale tells that Van Der Decken sailed out on Easter, but became trapped in a storm when sailing through the Cape of Good Hope and that Van Der Decken cursed god and yelled: "Even if God would let me sail til Judgement Day, I will round the cape!"

And just moments, after he said this the storm subdued and a echoing voice told him Van Der Decken - You will sail the seas for all eternity!

After the voice disappeared, the crew of the ship all died ( in some stories they became undead ) and Willem Van Der Decken and The Flying Dutchman would from then on sail the seas, sometimes being seen by sailors in bad weather as a ghostly figure sailing against the wind.

Ship of Death
In Pirates of the Caribbean, the legend is added upon, with Davy Jones offering a doomed sailor service as a crewman of the Flying Dutchman as a way of delaying their deaths.

Crewmembers turn into supernatural beings, slowly morphing into creatures of the sea as they become less and less human and more an actual part of the ship itself.

The wretched men who have chosen this fate appear in the game on Isla Tormenta, where they labor for Davy. They are also some of the most hardened enemies a pirate will ever face.

Captive Ship
After Lord Cutler Beckett recovered the Dead Man's Chest and Davy's heart therein, he was able to force Jones into using the powerful vessel to serve the East India Trading Company and lead their armada in his War on Piracy.

The Dutchman sank numerous vessels and slaughtered countless pirates since the ship could sink and surface at will and her massive broadsides and forward-mounted triple guns could pound hulls into splinters.

In the end, the vessel dueled with the Black Pearl on the edge of massive maelstorm whirlpool while their crews battled. But, Jones was killed when his heart was stabbed by the wily Captain Jack Sparrow - using the hand of the dying Will Turner.

Turner awoke as the ship's new captain. Together with the Black Pearl, the Dutchman obliterated the EITC's flagship - the HMS Endeavour and the remaining vessels fled.

A New Captain, A New Start
With William Turner at the helm, and his father by his side, the Dutchman's curse was broken and it became the pristine vessel it once was. Turner now sails the seas performing the task that Jones forsaked - delivering the souls of lost sailors to the other side. But, Will returned after ten years time to reunited with now wife, Elizabeth Swann, and their young son.

Game Note
The Flying Dutchman does not yet appear in the Pirates of the Caribbean Online game, it is listed here purely for lore and background (Although it is hinted that it might make an in-game appearance as learned as part of the Liberation of the Black Pearl quest).