flying dutchman

The Sailor's Word-Book

A famous marine spectre ship, formerly supposed to haunt the Cape of Good Hope. The tradition of seamen was that a Dutch skipper, irritated with a foul wind, swore by donner and blitzen, that he would beat into Table Bay in spite of God or man, and that, foundering with the wicked oath on his lips, he has ever since been working off and on near the Cape. The term is now extended to false reports of vessels seen.

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