In Pirates of the Caribbean, Davy Jones wreaked havoc on the high seas, but the legends surrounding the real ship Flying Dutchman are very different, writes JENNIFER LIND-WESTBROOK in an article published in screen rant.
What the Film Depicted?
What’s the true story behind thePirates of the Caribbeanfranchise’s most mysterious ship, The Flying Dutchman? Fans of the franchise are familiar with the onscreen story of The Flying Dutchman, but the legends surrounding the real Dutchman are even more intriguing. The Flying Dutchman makes its first appearance duringPirates of theCaribbean: DeadMan’sChest. The ship’s captain is Davy Jones, the octopus-faced spurned lover of the sea goddess Calypso. Like The Dutchman, the lore of Davy Jones struck fear into the heart of many sailors for centuries, and some believed Jones to be the Devil himself.
ThePirates of the Caribbeanfilms take place as theGolden Age of Piracyis drawing to a close. The first three films,The Curse of theBlack Pearl,Dead Man’s Chest, andAt World’s End, borrow from nautical legends surrounding Davy Jones, his infamous Locker, and The Flying Dutchman. The movies chronicle the adventures of Captain Jack Sparrow, Will Turner, and Elizabeth Swann as they face threats from the cutthroat Captain Barbossa, the ever-looming presence of the East India Trading Company, and the impending extinction of pirates. The movies are reminiscent of the swashbuckling adventure films of Errol Flynn, complete with elaborate swordplay. They also rely on the supernatural superstitions embraced by sailors for hundreds of years. The fourth filmOnStranger Tidesfocuses onJackSparrow’ssearch for the Fountain of Youth, and the fifth film,Dead Men Tell No Tales,features Jack partnering with Will and Elizabeth’s son to find the Trident of Poseidon.
The Reality of the Flying Dutchman
According to nautical legend, the real Flying Dutchmancarried spices and silk between the Netherlands and the East Indies during the 17th century.
Its captain was Hendrick Van der Decken. While en route to Amsterdam, Van der Decken took a shortcut around the Cape of Good Hope, andTheDutchmansailed into a storm. By some accounts, Van der Decken was a victim of bad luck who realized his mistake too late.
Others painted him as a drunken or insane tyrant who tempted fate and challenged an angel.
In another version, Satan offered Van der Decken a chance at salvation if he could secure the love of a woman. The captain could make landfall every seven years until he achieved this task.
A Ghost Ship Lost at Sea
The fate ofThe Flying Dutchmanremained the same: the ship was lost at sea and superstitious sailors claimed the ghost ship could be seen hovering above the waves or emerging from underneath, and it was a harbinger of bad luck.
In the Piratesfranchise, The Flying Dutchman’s original purpose was to ferry those who died at sea to the afterlife. Calypso entrusted Jones — once a great sailor — to serve as captain of the ship, promising that after a decade at sea, Jones could make port and reunite with Calypso. After his first 10 years of service, Jones returned to land, but Calypso wasn’t thereso the abandoned captain abandoned his duties and roamed the seas, searching for souls to harvest, preying on dying sailors. He promised them that 100 years of servitude on the ship was preferable to the possibility of eternal damnation. Jones goes so far as to call on the sea monster the Kraken to destroy ships to recruit crew members. Unlike the real legends, The Flying Dutchman’s fate is essentially the result of a bad breakup.
ThePirates of the Caribbeanmovies use the folklore surrounding Davy Jones and The Flying Dutchman but creates its own canon.
One story shares a few similarities to the tale of The Flying Dutchmantold in the second and third movies of the franchise with Jones as the captain instead of Van der Decken.
The Jones known to sailors was determined to make it round the Cape even if it meant that he and the crew would die trying. As a result, the Devil took the helm, and the ship was doomed to sail the seas for eternity. Jones’ decision to tempt fate and invoke the name of Satan led to The Dutchman‘scurse.
In the films, Jones’ choice to shirk his responsibilities and defy Calypso causedhim and his crew’s transformations into half-men, half-sea-life.
According to maritime legend, the Flying Dutchman can never be anchored, and anyone who sees the ship is doomed to sail the seven seas for eternity. Although the Flying Dutchman never existed, the story of the cursed ship became a legendary symbol of calamity for sailors.
Because Will Turner became the new captain, he would now serve aboard the Flying Dutchman for all eternity, bound to ferry the souls of drowned seamen into the afterlife, as Jones had before him. After Will's one day ashore with Elizabeth, the Dutchman disappeared into the green flash in order to complete its duty.
1881: Three HMS Bacchante crewmembers, including King George V, saw the ship. The next day, one of the men who saw it fell from the rigging and died. 1879: The SS Pretoria's crew saw the ghost ship. 1911: A whaling ship almost collided with her before she vanished.
The Flying Dutchman was a sea captain who once found himself struggling to round the Cape of Good Hope during a ferocious storm. He swore that he would succeed even if he had to sail until Judgment Day. The Devil heard his oath, and took him up on it; the Dutchman was condemned to stay at sea forever.
There have been many sightings over the years, although the last reported one was by a Nazi submarine in WWII. Some sightings involved the Flying Dutchman sailing quickly through calm waters while the majority of sailors have spotted it during extremely stormy weather with wind and waves crashing all around.
In the most common version, the captain, Vanderdecken, gambles his salvation on a rash pledge to round the Cape of Good Hope during a storm and so is condemned to that course for eternity; it is this rendering which forms the basis of the opera Der fliegende Holländer (1843) by the German composer Richard Wagner.
However, when Jones returned to shore after ten years, Calypso failed to appear. Believing Calypso had betrayed him, a heartbroken and enraged Davy Jones turned the Pirate Brethren against her, saying that if she were removed from the world, they would be able to claim the seas for themselves.
Once a man, Jones was tasked by his lover, the goddess Calypso (or Tia Dalma), with ferrying the souls of those who died at sea to the afterlife. When he took on this task, he was forbidden from setting foot on land aside from every ten years, when he would finally be reunited with his love– but she never showed.
Armed with thirty-two guns and bearing the appearance of a ghost ship, the Black Pearl, albeit entirely fictional, is now the most famous pirate ship of all time.
In real life the Flying Dutchman was a 17th century Dutch merchantman, captained by Captain Hendrick Van Der Decken, a skilled seaman but one of few scruples, and in 1680 was proceeding from Amsterdam to Batavia in the Dutch East Indies.
According to an answer to a question from this leaflet from the At World's End DVD: Will's father is not alive—he and all the other crewmen on the Dutchman are in a state between the living and the dead. Elizabeth will not survive the journeys where the ship must travel—so she is not able to join the crew.
The Flying Dutchman is said to appear as a ghostly, glowing ship. It will materialise suddenly and then, just as suddenly, vanish. Some claim the ship, doomed to sail the seas forever, will attempt to make contact with other travellers, and that seeing the Flying Dutchman is a sign of horrible misfortune to come.
As the series progresses, it is revealed that as Calypso, she became romantically involved with Davy Jones, and their mutual betrayal is what led to both of their transformations. Calypso had charged Davy Jones with ferrying souls of the dead, promising to meet with him again in ten years.
With every year that passes, the crewmen become less human, their bodies taking on traits from the sea, until eventually they become part of the Flying Dutchman itself. After Jones' own death, the crew turned back to normal, with Will Turner as the new captain of the Dutchman.
(also known as Bootstrap Bill) because she gives her last name as 'Turner' to protect her identity as the daughter of the Governor. What follows is an entangling of fate since Captain Jack Sparrow wants to command the Black Pearl, Will Turner intends to rescue his sweetheart, Ms.
Jack, who now possesses Jones' heart guides Will's hand to stab the heart and kill Jones. Bootstrap carves out his son's heart and places it in the Dead Man's Chest. Will becomes the Flying Dutchman's immortal captain. Now under Will's command, the Flying Dutchman resurfaces, and the crew has reverted to human form.
There have been references to the Flying Dutchman for more than two centuries. Sighting accounts differ as few claim it was a spectral schooner seen under full sail; some witnessed it sailing through the fog or rough water, while many claims to encounter the ghost ship making significant headway in the calm waters.
Introduction: My name is Margart Wisoky, I am a gorgeous, shiny, successful, beautiful, adventurous, excited, pleasant person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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