The Flying Dutchman
In Chapter 23 of Anne’s House of Dreams, Anne takes Owen Ford, a writer, to meet Captain Jim:
“Mr. Ford wants to hear some of your stories, Captain Jim” said Anne. “Tell him the one about the captain who went crazy and imagined he was the Flying Dutchman.”
This was Captain Jim’s best story. It was a compound of horror and humor, and though Anne had heard it several times she laughed as heartily and shivered as fearsomely over it as Mr. Ford did.
The Flying Dutchman
The Flying Dutchman is a popular folklore:
Among the most famous of the phantom ships is the legendary Flying Dutchman. This sailing ship, feared by mariners as an omen of disaster, supposedly appears during stormy weather off the Cape of Good Hope, at Africa’s southern tip.
According to one version of the legend, Van der Decken, the captain of the Flying Dutchman, swore that he would round the cape even if he had to sail straight into the wind. Because of this oath, Van der Decken was condemned to sail forever against just such an adverse wind.
