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| “ | You won't be able to stop me, I am the master of the seas and even the devil himself is afraid of me! Damn both of them! Pair of cowards! They both bow at my feet when my ship passes through the oceans of the world! No storm, god or demon will be able to stop me! | „ |
| ~ Hendrik Van der Decken |
Captain Van der Decken is the possible captain of the legendary ghost ship known as the Flying Dutchman and an antagonist in nautical folklore.
Origin of Legend[]
Versions of the legend are countless, but the original one began with the captain of a Dutch ship, a bourgeois captain from the Netherlands named Hendrik van der Decken, who made a pact with the devil to always be able to sail the seas no matter what natural challenges he faced. May God put you on your journey. But God, omniscient, finds out about this and in punishment condemns him to sail forever aimlessly and without touching land, for which he receives the name Flying Dutchman.
According to certain sources, the Dutch captain Bernard Fokke (17th century) served as the model for the commander of the ghost ship. Fokke was famous for the strange cruising speed that he reached in the crossings between Holland and Java, for which it was suspected that he had signed a deal with the devil. In some Dutch versions of the myth, the captain is called Falkenburg.
Marryat is given the name van der Decken (meaning "on deck") in his version, and Ramhout van Dam in Washington Irving's version. Both do not agree when calling the ship or the captain a flying Dutchman.
He is also said to have sworn, facing a storm, that he would not turn back until he rounded the Cape of Good Hope, even if it took him until Judgment Day to do so. There has also been talk of a horrible crime committed on board the ship and even of a terrible epidemic that infected the crew, who for this reason were not allowed to disembark in any port, and since then have been sentenced ship and sailors to sail. forever, without the possibility of stepping on land. As for the dates on which it would occur, there has been talk of 1641 and 1680.
The similarities and commonalities between the legends of the Flying Dutchman and the Flying Jew have often been pointed out.
Biography[]
The Flying Dutchman
It is said the devil himself had given Dutch pirate captain Hendrick van der Decken the power to make his ship the fastest ship on all the seas, after the man sold his soul to him one night with a full moon. No ship could travel faster than the reckless captain's ship: it broke the waves and broke the furious winds to reach port in a matter of hours or a few days. The sailors who traveled with Van der Decken respected and feared him at the same time, but they liked sailing with him because he was fair in sharing profits and treasures. Besides, he liked to take them to brothels in the Caribbean and other exotic places where there were dark-skinned, curly-haired women who liked pirates.
The last conquest of the Dutchman and his sailors had been the distant East Indies, to which they went to buy spices, silks and dyes that they would resell at higher prices in their native Holland. After two days in which the sea had been raging and impeding the usually rapid advance of Van der Decken and his men, who were heading back to Europe, the captain ordered his ship to head towards the Cape of Good Hope, in South Africa, to take a break before the turbulent waters that strangely slowed their pace. However, upon reaching this part of Africa, the sailors realized that the sea was much more furious.
The waves were battering the ship and threatening to capsize it, the sails were tearing in the wind and the masts were snapping from the pounding of the sea and the gales. Van der Decken and his men, true sea wolves, strong, tattooed, one-eyed, with skin burned by the sun and with some amputated limbs, who had spent nearly 30 years or more making one voyage after another on the high seas, had never met before. Facing such a furious storm. Some said that it was the punishment of Poseidon, others that it was the pale demons of the seas that were causing this phenomenon to claim the treasures and the lives of each one of them. Others affirmed with terror in their eyes that the devil had gone looking for them to claim their souls, just as he had done with that of their captain, who at that time was secluded in his cabin smoking or drinking. Those men, while fearsome, were also superstitious about the old pirate legends they had heard since their childhood. On deck, there was an increasing fear. Meanwhile, in his cabin, Van der Decken meditated on the reason why the sea was playing against him at that time. Hadn't he given up to the Evil One, the most precious thing that every man has in exchange for his power never being broken by any enemy or element of nature? The captain got up from his table, which was staggering with each pounding of the waves, and picked up a silver crucifix that hung above his bed. It had been a gift from his wife before he left Holland on his last mission.
Suddenly, the man squeezed the object hard until his hands hurt and he began to speak angerly about the supposed punishment he received. Van der Decken ran to the cabin door, flung it open, and ran up the stairs to the deck. The roar of lightning falling into the sea, the storm getting worse and worse, the waves flooding his boat that was barely afloat and his men perishing dragged by the water, filled his field of vision. He ran to the rudder area and pointed the silver crucifix towards the sky, exclaiming that he was unstoppable.
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