So, they say that one day a Dutch captain wanted to go around Cape Horn. It was late autumn, and everyone knows that irresistible evil winds blow there at that time. The Dutchman reefed the sails, changed tacks, but the wind blowing on his forehead invariably threw him back. He was a dashing and experienced sailor, however, the greatest sinner, moreover, still stubborn as a monkfish. According to these signs, some recognize him as Captain Van Straaten from Delft. Others, however, support the Swedish captain Van der Decken with a mountain. Both of them lived about three hundred years ago, they loved to look at the bottom of the bottle, and they blasphemed, they say, so that when they heard them, the whales turned their belly up. So, this Van Straaten, or Van der Decken, was completely furious when the headwind blocked his path for the fifth or sixth time. He trembled all over with anger, raised his fists above his head and shouted such a monstrous oath towards the storm that the clouds, unable to endure it, spat rain in response. Wet from head to toe, having lost his three-cornered hat, the Dutchman, however, did not let up. With the bones of his mother, he swore, at least until the Last Judgment, to go around Cape Horn, until, despite the storm, he would go around it!

And what? The Dutchman was immediately taken at his word! God condemned him to the end of time to wander the seas and oceans, never touching the shore! And if he still tried to enter the harbor, then immediately something pushed him out of there, like a badly fitted wedge from a hole. Lord our God, be among us, it is said, also from the stubborn! If something gets into his head, try it - you can’t even get it out of there with a tug! Well, that's how it's been going on ever since. For the fourth century, the Flying Dutchman has been flying back and forth across the seas. At night, the fires of St. Elmo tremble on the tops of his masts; during the day, the rays of the sun shine through between the ribs of the frames. The ship - completely full of holes from old age - would have sunk long ago, but Magic power keeps it on the surface. And the sails are always full of wind, even if the sea is calm and other ships are drifting. Meeting with the Flying Dutchman invariably portends a shipwreck! Even if you have at least a thousand feet under the keel and not a single can for hundreds of miles around - the Flying One will always have pebbles! Still would! His temper has not improved in the last three and a half centuries. And why would he improve?

But, after the Lord God held the Dutchman by the skirts of his caftan at Cape Horn, the old man no longer dares to dare heaven. Now he takes out his evil on his own brother, the sailor. The dead are jealous of us, the living! The dead are envious, trust me! And Flying, in addition to death, was tired of this rigmarole. Which year, like a restless one, he dangles between heaven and earth. Here, from evil, it lies in wait for sailors somewhere near the stones. It can catch your eye both in a storm and in a calm, get out of the fog in the morning, appear far on the horizon or jump out nearby, like a float from fishing nets jumping out of the water. Sometimes it shows up even on a sunny day. And this, they say, is the worst! Directly ahead, they notice a faint iridescent flicker, like a light tornado. It's fast approaching, thickening. Look: this is a ghostly ship, which, in sprays of foam, rolls over from wave to wave! Here, perhaps, it will be sad, huh? Just now he was not here, and here he is - at the distance of a shout, you can see everything from the top of the masts to the waterline. The stern and prow of the ancient design are raised, with high superstructures, as was customary in the seventeenth century, peeling wooden decorations along the sides. And a flag dangles from the gaff, torn to the point that it is impossible to determine its nationality. What else is there to define? Grave cold immediately pulled from the sea, as if an iceberg had risen from the abyss of water! The skipper, dumbfounded, looks at the compass. What happened to the compass? The ship changes course on its own! But it is not blown away by the current, and there are no magnetic anomalies in this area, and the wind is calm, even backstay. This ghost, having settled down in front, led after him. Point by point leads the ship away from the recommended course. Sailors ran along the yards, removing the sails! The boatswain and several other people with him, without an order, rushed to help the helmsman, stuck around the helm from all sides, quickly intercepted the knitting needles, pulled, pushed with all their might! Feet slip on the wet deck. Not! Don't keep the ship on course! The deadly turn continues! And the distance between you and your mateloth is shrinking faster and faster. You can already make out the faces of the people standing on the yards and shrouds of the ghost ship. But these are not faces - skulls! They grin from under their colored headbands and little cocked hats shifted on one side. And on the quarterdeck, back and forth, like a monkey in a cage, the red-faced captain jumps. Enjoy it while there's still time!

The appearance of the Flying Dutchman is described as follows. It is as if he is wearing a spacious brown caftan, a dagger dangling from his belt, no hat, gray tresses stand over his bald head. His voice is loud, it carries far over the sea. He can be heard urging his sailors on, threatening to wrap their guts around the windlass, calling them bony bums and rotten fish food. Turn completed. The helmsman dropped the helm and covered his face with his hands. Ahead, behind the bowsprit, in the web of yards, I saw the inevitable approaching white stripe, fountains of foam that rise and fall. It's a surf! And it was as if an invisible towing cable had burst. The vision of the ship dissipates like steam. The Flying Dutchman is gone. The grinding sound of the bottom against the stones is heard. And this is the last thing you hear in your life... Perhaps you should tell me more about letters. There are, you see, the lucky ones who manage to meet the Flying Dutchman and return home safe. However, this rarely happens - only two or three times a century. At night, on a parallel course, an angular silhouette appears, and so close that at least throw the fenders overboard. Everyone who is on duty is instantly chilled to the bone. It's impossible to go wrong! From the devil it smacks of sulfur, from the Volatile it pulls cold, as from a crypt. A cold, hoarse voice calls from the darkness: - Hey, on the ship! Which port are you heading to? The skipper answers, barely moving his tongue, preparing for death. But he is only asked to receive and transmit correspondence. It is impossible to refuse: this is the law of marine courtesy. A canvas bag flops onto the deck. And immediately the angular silhouette lags behind and disappears into the darkness. Well, you understand, during the flight, the team sideways bypasses the bag, as if it were filled with red-hot coals from the underworld itself. But there are letters, only letters. Upon arrival at the port, they are pulled out of the bag, sorted and, wanting to get rid of them as soon as possible, they are sent to different cities. The addresses, mind you, are written according to the old spelling, the ink has faded! Letters arrive very late and do not find addressees. The wives, brides and mothers of sailors, doomed to roam the world for the sins of their grumpy stubborn captain, died long ago, and even the trace of their graves is lost. But letters keep coming.

Be carefull! Scientists say you may share the fate of the Flying Dutchman, a ghost ship doomed to forever sail the seas and oceans, which is believed to have been one of the first victims. bermuda triangle. “The crew of the Flying Dutchman got caught in a time loop and they haven’t been able to get out of it since the 17th century,” says historian Professor Donald Wilson, who has spent 30 years studying the Bermuda Triangle. According to the researcher, the sailors of the ship are doomed to live the same events until the end of time or until the Earth and its oceans disappear. Experts believe that anyone can become a victim of the time loop.

Wilson adds: “There is no doubt that the victims do not understand what has happened to them. For the captain and crew it was an ordinary day at the end of 1660, and they believe that a favorable wind blowing in the sails carries them home. Wilson carefully studied the old records of voyages and found previously unknown references to the ship's log, which was kept by the captain of the Flying Dutchman Van der Decken before the ship set off on its last journey.

These records indicate that he planned to sail past Bermuda. Consequently, the ship ended up in the area now called the Devil's Triangle. The captain and crew of the experience was not to occupy, and the ship at that time was the most perfect. The weather was calm. In short, there was no navigational reason for the Flying Dutchman to disappear. Neither the wreckage of the ship nor the bodies of the sailors were found, which is also evidence that something extraordinary happened.

There is only one explanation - the Devil's Triangle is to blame. According to Wilson, this region of the ocean is a window into yet undiscovered dimensions of space and time. Under certain circumstances, which we cannot understand and cannot predict, this window is thrown open for a short period. Everything and everyone who unfortunately ended up there is sucked into these other dimensions. But their trace remains trapped in space and time. That is why they appear occasionally, like the Flying Dutchman, in the form of ghosts.

It is no coincidence that the legend of the "Flying Dutchman" also lives on: after all, a ghost ship appears where there is a window-passage to a time trap.

Origin

In art

The image of the "Flying Dutchman" was very popular in the art of the XIX-XX centuries.

• Opera 'The Flying Dutchman', op. Fitzball, music by Rodwell () (1826, Adelphi Theatre).
• The Flying Dutchman is one of the first operas by Richard Wagner, which was released in Dresden in 1843. The music for the opera was written very quickly, after Wagner's trip with his wife Minna on a ship to England, during which they got into a storm, which gave food to the composer's imagination.
• "Ghost ship" ( English) (1839) - a novel by the English writer Frederick Marryat, telling about the wanderings of Philip van der Decken, the son of the captain of a cursed ship.
• The popular British ballad "The Carpenter" The House Carpenter ) tells the story of a young woman who is seduced by a young man (the devil in the form of a young man) with rich promises, persuading her to leave with him. The girl decides to leave her carpenter husband and children, boards his ship, but after a few weeks of sailing, he goes to the bottom. In some versions of the ballad, the devil himself sinks his ship, and in some it crashes during a storm. This is believed to be due to the fact that the ships on board of which the unfaithful spouses travel are destined for a tragic fate, and the captain-devil is identified with the captain of the Flying Dutchman.
• N. Gumilyov's poem "" from the cycle "Captains", IV.
• Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006) and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007) are the second and third installments of Walt Disney Pictures' series of action films about pirates. The captain is Davy Jones, a character from another marine legend - about Davy Jones' chest
• Appears in the animated series SpongeBob SquarePants.
• The composition Seemann by the German rock band Rammstein tells a story based on the legend of the Flying Dutchman.
• The Flying Dutchman is a Moscow rock band from 1992-1997.
• In Leonid Platov's novel The Secret Fairway, the Flying Dutchman is a secret submarine that performs tasks of particular importance for the needs of the Third Reich. Also in the novel is one of the versions of the legend in literary processing. In particular, at the end of the legend it is said that there is a certain word, if you pronounce it when meeting with the "Flying Dutchman", the curse will be destroyed forever.
• "Flying Dutchman" - a song based on the verses of Boris Barkas, performed in the 70s in the rock underground environment, in particular, by the Russian rock group Time Machine from the album "Unpublished I", released in 1996.
• "Flying Dutchman", feature film, Fora-film - Yalta-film, 1990
• "The Flying Dutchman" (1993) - a musical piece for guitar by composer V. Kozlov.
• "The Flying Dutchman" is a song by the Russian power metal band NeverLie.
• The Flying Dutchman is a 1995 film by Dutch director Jos Stelling.
• The Flying Dutchman is a ghost ship in the One Piece manga and anime. The captain is a representative of the race of fishmen Van Der Decken IX, a descendant of the first captain of the legendary ship.
• "The Legend of the Flying Dutchman" book by S. Sakharnov 1995
• The Flying Dutchman (The Dutch Wife, 2002) is a book by Canadian author Eric McCormack.
• Mentioned as a terrible sea legend in the story "Captain Duke" by Alexander Green.
• In the book "Two from the Flying Dutchman" by writer Brian Jakes, one of the variations of the legend of the Flying Dutchman is presented. The story unfolds around her.
• Anatoly Kudryavitsky's novel The Flying Dutchman (2012) gives new version legends, where the captain loses the dispute between Death and Death During Life, and the latter gets it, on which the subsequent narrative about Russian life in the 70s of the 20th century is based.

see also

• "Mary Celeste" - other common name to designate ghost ships.
• "Corsairs: City of Lost Ships" - computer role-playing game, in which the player is given the opportunity to remove the curse from the Flying Dutchman.

Wikimedia Foundation. 2010 .

Synonyms:

Origin

In art

The image of the "Flying Dutchman" was very popular in the art of the XIX-XX centuries.

• Opera 'The Flying Dutchman', op. Fitzball, music by Rodwell () (1826, Adelphi Theatre).
• The Flying Dutchman is one of the first operas by Richard Wagner, which was released in Dresden in 1843. The music for the opera was written very quickly, after Wagner's trip with his wife Minna on a ship to England, during which they got into a storm, which gave food to the composer's imagination.
• "Ghost ship" ( English) (1839) - a novel by the English writer Frederick Marryat, telling about the wanderings of Philip van der Decken, the son of the captain of a cursed ship.
• The popular British ballad "The Carpenter" The House Carpenter ) tells the story of a young woman who is seduced by a young man (the devil in the form of a young man) with rich promises, persuading her to leave with him. The girl decides to leave her carpenter husband and children, boards his ship, but after a few weeks of sailing, he goes to the bottom. In some versions of the ballad, the devil himself sinks his ship, and in some it crashes during a storm. This is believed to be due to the fact that the ships on board of which the unfaithful spouses travel are destined for a tragic fate, and the captain-devil is identified with the captain of the Flying Dutchman.
• N. Gumilyov's poem "" from the cycle "Captains", IV.
• Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006) and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007) are the second and third installments of Walt Disney Pictures' series of action films about pirates. The captain is Davy Jones, a character from another marine legend - about Davy Jones' chest
• Appears in the animated series SpongeBob SquarePants.
• The composition Seemann by the German rock band Rammstein tells a story based on the legend of the Flying Dutchman.
• The Flying Dutchman is a Moscow rock band from 1992-1997.
• In Leonid Platov's novel The Secret Fairway, the Flying Dutchman is a secret submarine that performs tasks of particular importance for the needs of the Third Reich. Also in the novel is one of the versions of the legend in literary processing. In particular, at the end of the legend it is said that there is a certain word, if you pronounce it when meeting with the "Flying Dutchman", the curse will be destroyed forever.
• "Flying Dutchman" - a song based on the verses of Boris Barkas, performed in the 70s in the rock underground environment, in particular, by the Russian rock group Time Machine from the album "Unpublished I", released in 1996.
• "Flying Dutchman", feature film, Fora-film - Yalta-film, 1990
• "The Flying Dutchman" (1993) - a musical piece for guitar by composer V. Kozlov.
• "The Flying Dutchman" is a song by the Russian power metal band NeverLie.
• The Flying Dutchman is a 1995 film by Dutch director Jos Stelling.
• The Flying Dutchman is a ghost ship in the One Piece manga and anime. The captain is a representative of the race of fishmen Van Der Decken IX, a descendant of the first captain of the legendary ship.
• "The Legend of the Flying Dutchman" book by S. Sakharnov 1995
• The Flying Dutchman (The Dutch Wife, 2002) is a book by Canadian author Eric McCormack.
• Mentioned as a terrible sea legend in the story "Captain Duke" by Alexander Green.
• In the book "Two from the Flying Dutchman" by writer Brian Jakes, one of the variations of the legend of the Flying Dutchman is presented. The story unfolds around her.
• The novel by Anatoly Kudryavitsky "The Flying Dutchman" (2012) gives a new version of the legend, where the captain loses the dispute between Death and Death While Living, and the latter gets it, on which the subsequent narrative about Russian life in the 70s of the 20th century is based.

see also

• " Mary Celeste"- Another common name for ghost ships.
• Corsairs: City of Lost Ships is a computer role-playing game in which the player is given the opportunity to remove the curse from the Flying Dutchman.

Wikimedia Foundation. 2010 .

Synonyms:

For centuries, sailors have passed word of mouth about a huge black ship that moved at supernatural speed despite torn sails. Many claimed to have seen the legendary "Flying Dutchman" with their own eyes, after which tragic misfortunes and blows of fate awaited them. And for some, the meeting with this mysterious ship turned out to be fatal. Some modern researchers seriously believe that they really solved the mystery of the "Flying Dutchman".

Edgar Allan Poe's short story "The Manuscript Found in a Bottle" (1833) tells the story of a man who, after a shipwreck, finds himself on a mysterious ship. His first encounter with the formidable ship is described in a tragic scene typical of Poe:

“Looking up, I saw a sight that made my blood run cold in my veins. At a great height directly above us, on the very edge of a steep water cliff, a gigantic ship with a displacement of at least four thousand tons reared up. Although he hung on the crest of a wave a hundred times his own height, his true size still exceeded the size of any existing in the world. battleship or a ship of the East India Company. Its colossal, dull black hull did not enliven the carvings common to all ships. [...] But a special horror and amazement inspired us with the fact that, despising the sea raging with indomitable fury, this ship was rushing at full sail towards a completely supernatural hurricane wind.

Most likely, the American writer was inspired by the stories about the Flying Dutchman. According to legend, this is a huge ship that was cursed and doomed to sail the sea for all eternity. It was said among the sailors that the captain of the ship, returning from the East Indies, killed a couple in love. Passing the Cape of Good Hope, the ship was caught in a storm. The blasphemer captain swore that none of his crew would set foot on the ground, which called for trouble. And now a gloomy ship with an immortal crew plows the expanses of the ocean. Only once every ten years can a captain go ashore to find a wife and thus break the spell.

Usually the "Flying Dutchman" was seen from afar, when he swiftly sailed under full sail against the wind, which could not but frighten experienced sailors. Only sometimes a strange ship approached, and its sailors asked to deliver letters to their relatives. In any case, a meeting with a "cursed" ship was considered a bad omen by superstitious sailors.

There are many sea legends and tales about the ship, but there is no real evidence of the story of the Flying Dutchman. There is only one theory that explains the appearance of a ghost ship that can skim the waves against the wind and even fly in the air. It's all about optical illusion.

Fata Morgana (named after Morgana the Fairy, the Arthurian sorceress) is caused by the formation of several layers of air with different temperatures. They become a kind of “mirrors”, with the help of which the “picture” is transmitted very far. In this case, the image of the ship is reflected several times. Thus, ships or islands far beyond the horizon can be seen. It will seem that they are "floating" right through the air.

The legend of the Flying Dutchman is passed down from generation to generation by sailors. Only at the thought of the flying Dutchman does the heart begin to beat faster. Covered in mystery and romance, the history of this ship does not leave indifferent many historians and scientists. The legend is incredibly poetic, as you can see for yourself.

Back in the 16th and maybe even in the 17th century, led by an experienced captain, a passenger ship flew over the waves, heading through the Cape of Good Hope, located in southern Africa. Not as soon as the ship approached the cape, a strong storm raged. The team turned to the captain with a request to moor and wait out the bad weather. But the captain refused the team. Perhaps he was drunk or even out of his mind. He promised the team that by all means, he would go around the cape. Disagreeing with the decision of the captain, the team and the excited passengers raised a riot, setting the goal of neutralizing the desperate captain. But it so happened that the captain outwitted the rebels by catching the leader of the rebels and feeding him to the fish.

Legend has it that this treacherous act angered God. And it so happened that in an instant the heavens parted, the clouds shone with a bright flame, from which a dark shadow appeared, descending onto the deck of the ship. Captain. Out of military habit, he decided to use a weapon and scare away the approaching shadow. But suddenly. The gun in his hands exploded into small pieces. In an indifferent and unshakable voice, the shadow pronounced the verdict. “You are cruel and heartless, captain. Now bile will be your wine, and iron your food. You will be damned forever." After these words, the sailors turned into half-decayed skeletons, and the captain - into the Flying Dutchman himself. God is in no hurry to forgive him. According to legend, only the love of a believing woman can save the captain. That's just where to get it in the ocean?

The Flying Dutchman swims in all seas. The ghost of the ship is a harbinger of certain death for the ship. Even today sailors are afraid of the ghost ship, so horseshoes are nailed to the masts - for good luck.

It is true to believe that the above legend has some historical background. Everyone knows that real facts lose their "edges" under the shelter of time.

The legend is based on a true story that happened in 1641 with a merchant ship. It tried to go around the headland in search of a convenient place for a settlement, which was to become a resting place for the ships of the East India Company. A strong storm did not stop the assertive captain. Ended confrontation between people and nature as always. By the way, the legend branched out from here. The captain was eager to get to the east side of the cape and he was going to do it even if it took time until the very end of the world. The devil heard his words and decided to help. Giving you eternal life.

There is another option, more real: at the end of 1770, the whole team moored a ship on the island of Malta. Including the captain were infected with yellow fever. The Grand Master of the Order of Malta gave the order to tow the ship from the port, along with 23 people on it. The ship sailed to Tunisia, but there they were already warned and did not let the ship into the port. In Naples, where the team sailed later. The sailboat was also not allowed. The same thing happened in France and England. The team was slowly dying, and in the end. Transformed into a group of skeletons on board.

Almost met the Flying Dutchman british ship"Bacchante" in 1881, on board of which at that moment was the young prince. Everything worked out. Fate gave the prince a long life. The prince became King George V. But the sailor who stood on patrol soon died tragically.

The mythical ghost ship was found even in the 20th century. In March 1939 he was seen by many South African bathers. Many newspapers wrote about it that day.

Very often in the seas and oceans there are ships without a team of sailors and a captain. It is difficult to explain such findings. There were times when teams disappeared in the middle of a clear day.

What exactly happens to the ships' crews? This mystery has been trying to unravel for several centuries. There are many hypotheses about this, starting with exotic ones - abduction by alien creatures, the transition of people to a parallel world, other dimensions, attacks by sea monsters; but there are also quite possible ones: mass poisoning, or epidemics, or the crew was washed overboard, an attack by pirates, or zones of strong ultrasonic radiation (in which the crew dies) What is really happening? We probably won't know. The ocean keeps its secrets very well.

WIKIPEDIA:

The term is most often used in legends and fiction, but can also refer to a real ship that had previously disappeared, but was later found at sea without a crew, or with a dead crew on board. Many encounters with such ships are obvious inventions, but there are real cases, documented.

The reasons for the disappearance or death of the team can be different: epidemics, poisoning, rare natural phenomena, such as rogue waves, or methane emissions. The investigation of such cases is often complicated due to the lack of evidence of the incident, such as entries in the logbook.

The Kaz II, dubbed the "ghost yacht", was found drifting 163 km off the North Australian coast on April 18, 2007. The fate of the three members of her crew is still unknown, and the circumstances under which they disappeared are extremely mysterious.

1. Brief chronology of events.

On April 15, 2007, the Kaz II left Airlie Beach and headed for Townsville. On board were the owner of the yacht Derek Batten and his friends, brothers Peter and James Tunstead. And already on April 18, the yacht was accidentally spotted from a helicopter in the area of ​​the Great Barrier Reef. She drifted by herself, and it was clear that something had happened to her crew.

On April 20, a sea patrol caught up with the drifting yacht and boarded it.
On the map:
1-point where the yacht left
2-point where it was discovered
3-point where the yacht was caught by the patrol

None of the 3 crew members was found on the yacht, and the yacht itself and the things on it were completely untouched, as if the crew had suddenly left the yacht for unknown reasons. Large-scale search and rescue operations continued until April 25, but they did not bring success - neither the crew, nor at least their bodies, were never found.

2. Start an investigation

Kaz II was immediately towed to the port of Townsville for a forensic examination. An investigation into the matter has begun.

After analyzing the GPS data on the course of Kaz II, it was found that on the morning of April 15, the yacht was still under control and was on the intended course. But already in the evening of that day, along the trajectory of the yacht, it became clear that it was no longer controlled by the crew, but simply drifted freely in a northeasterly direction. On the same day, the weather deteriorated in this area, on the rest of the days the weather was good.

This is a page from the report of the official investigation, it shows the broken line of the drift of the yacht

3. Inspection of the yacht

When inspecting the yacht, the last video recording of the crew was found on it, dated April 15, 10:05 am, where the islands around were fixed, which makes it possible to determine the exact location of the yacht at the time of the video filming.

This is a page from the official investigation report:
1-point video
2-point where the yacht was discovered

The video recording also makes it possible to establish the state of the yacht immediately before the disappearance of the crew. The following was recorded:
- Batten was at the helm
— Peter was fishing on the stern of the yacht
- a long white rope is unwound at the stern of the yacht
- the yacht's engine was stopped
- fenders were hung from both sides of the yacht, which serve to prevent damage to the boat, for example, when mooring. This is how they look like

- Peter is wearing a shirt and glasses, later these things were found on the deck of the yacht in another place

Upon careful examination by the investigation team of the yacht itself, it was found that it is in full working order and looks as if right now its crew is on board:

- food and cutlery are arranged on the table
- laptop included
— the yacht's engine is running
– all emergency systems, including GPS, are fully operational
- all life jackets are in place
- a small rescue boat is raised in the back of the yacht
- anchor raised
- under the bed in the box is an intact firearms and cartridges for it
- the rope, which was recorded on the video lying at the stern of the yacht, has already been wound up

- the T-shirt and glasses that Tunstead was wearing at the time of the video were left on the seat at the stern of the yacht
- a coffee mug is thrown near the lifebuoy
– there are no signs of a struggle or attack on the yacht, things are not scattered, there are no traces of a search or any impact, all things are in their places
- one of the sails of the yacht was torn (this is the only damage found). This photo shows a torn sail.

4. Witness.

During the investigation of the case, a witness was found who saw the yacht. Gavin Howland, captain of the commercial fishing vessel Gillian, testified that on April 16, 2007, while fishing off Bowen Reef, he and his crew saw a white yacht with a torn sail. The yacht was drifting sideways between the reefs through a narrow passage, in the North-North-East direction, along the stream. Gavin Howland walked at a distance of about 50 meters from the yacht and did not see anyone on the deck, but did not approach the private yacht.

5. Versions.

There are several versions of the disappearance of the crew of the yacht Kaz II, but none of them can be considered completely reliable. It is worth saying here that the captain of the yacht, Derek Batten, had 25 years of yachting experience, he always behaved carefully and observed all safety measures when sailing. Therefore, some absurdities in his actions are difficult to imagine.

Here are some of the proposed versions of what happened:
— falling overboard due to a storm. This version is not confirmed by the order on board the yacht and by the fact that the crew were not wearing life jackets.
— abduction to another unidentified vessel. This version is supported by overhanging fenders, as if the yacht was about to moor. However, there are no traces of a search or the presence of other people on the yacht.
- the yacht ran aground and the three of them went overboard to push it, as a result, the yacht was blown away by a gust of wind. But where the strand could exist there is not explained.
- and finally official version. This is the cover of the investigation report.

According to investigators, the following happened:

James Tunstead took off his T-shirt and glasses and dived into the ocean to free a tangled fishing line. At that moment, the wind began to carry the yacht to the side. Then his brother Peter rushed into the ocean to help him. Batten at that moment remained on board and saw that the yacht was being blown away from friends into the ocean by the wind. He turned on the engine to return, but then realized that he first needed to lower the sails so that the wind did not interfere with the movement of the yacht. As he let go of the rudder and headed for the sails, a rush of wind blew the sails, the yacht twitched and Batten's sail was knocked into the ocean. After that, the yacht on sails went to open ocean, and the crew could not catch up with her by swimming and, as a result, drowned.

But even the official version of the loss of the crew of the Kaz II yacht is made with the proviso that it cannot be considered completely accurate ... The entire official report of the investigation can be seen.

6. Ghost ships.

The history of the yacht Kaz II, of course, could be attributed to a unique case of an incomprehensible tragedy in which the entire crew of the yacht accidentally drowned. However, it turns out that this is not the first and not the last case of the discovery of a ship sailing without a crew. Ghost ships appear in history with enviable regularity, and even have their own ancient legend - the Flying Dutchman ship.

The Flying Dutchman is a ghost sailing ship that, according to legend, cannot land on the shore and is doomed to sail the seas forever. Usually sailors observe such a ship from afar, sometimes surrounded by a luminous halo. According to legend, when the Flying Dutchman meets with another ship, his crew tries to send messages to the shore for people who are no longer alive. In maritime beliefs, meeting the Flying Dutchman is considered a bad omen.

Only the discovered ghost ships are enough, you can see for yourself -. One of the most famous documented cases of a ghost ship can be considered the famous Mary Celeste (Mary Celeste, Mary of Heaven, Mary Celeste, which was discovered on December 4, 1872, 400 miles from Gibraltar.

In the case of Mary Celeste, the entire team, in the same unknown way, simply disappeared from the side of the sailboat, not a single living soul was found on board the ship. Although at the same time the ship itself remained completely untouched, including the valuables on board ...