Pirate party script. Damn skippers Pirates of the Flying Dutchman are at stake
The great legend of the Flying Dutchman, like no other, is permeated with mysticism and resembles a phantasmagoria. It certainly has a historical background, incorporating the story of the life and death of Bartolomeu Dias and his followers. However, real facts lose their outlines under the veil of time.
The most famous version of the legend of the “Flying Dutchman” is associated with a certain sailing ship that made a voyage from the East Indies to Europe with a cargo of spices and tea. His captain Van der Straaten (according to another version, the captain's name was Van der Decken or even a certain Van) was an experienced and courageous man, but of a very unbridled and ferocious temperament. His rule was to achieve his goal by any means, even contrary to common sense and reason. However, they say that it was precisely for this reason that merchants hired him, who were always confident that Van der Straaten would always deliver the cargo on time, no matter what it cost him.
Dutch historians believe that the basis of the famous legend, which forever glorified the stubbornness of Dutch sailors, was a real story that happened to one of the Dutch sailors in 1641. Then a certain merchant ship tried to round the Cape of Good Hope in search of a suitable place for a small settlement that could serve as a transshipment point for the ships of the East India Company. A strong storm broke out, but the captain decided to get to his goal, no matter what the cost. The story ended badly due to the stubbornness of the captain, who so wanted to get to the eastern side of the cape that he declared: “I will get there, even if it takes me until the end of the world!” According to another version, the Dutch captain's saying was blasphemous: “I swear to God and the devil, we will break through this storm, even if I have to sail until the second coming!” - he allegedly shouted. In response to his blasphemy, a terrible voice was heard: “So be it - swim!” And Van der Decken is still trying to go around Cape Horn, but to no avail.
There is another option for transforming an ordinary sailing vehicle into the ominous “Flying Dutchman”. When Van der Straaten's ship was caught in a severe storm near the Cape of Good Hope, the navigator inadvertently advised the captain to take refuge in one of the bays. The proposal was quite reasonable, but instead of heeding the advice, Van der Straaten suddenly pulled out a pistol and shot his quite reasonable navigator.
The same will happen to anyone who goes against me! - the captain growled, allegedly addressing the frightened sailors.
Then, completely unbelted, Van der Straaten kicked the body of the dead navigator overboard. The crew begged the captain to change his mind, but he ordered all sails to be set and, loudly singing blasphemous songs, headed for the very center of the terrible typhoon. Furious waves crushed the sides of the ship, a furious wind broke the masts and tore the sails to shreds, but the captain stood his ground, challenging God himself. Driven to extremes, the sailors rebelled, trying to seize control of the ship, but Van der Straaten did not lose his head. When he failed to reason with the team with words, he used the pistol again. It is unknown how many pistols (and they were single-shot at that time!) the crazy captain had in stock, but he quickly and deftly shot his entire crew,
At that moment, when he shot the last of his sailors, the clouds in the sky suddenly parted and a ghostly figure descended onto the quarterdeck of the ship. According to another version, on the contrary, lightning struck the ship from the clouds and the alien materialized directly from the flame. The further course of events is generally the same. “You are a very stubborn person,” said the alien. Van der Straaten responded with choice abuse. “I didn’t ask anyone for quiet weather,” he croaked. “I never asked anyone for anything, get away before I shoot you too.” But the figure did not move. Grabbing the pistol, the captain tried to shoot, but the weapon exploded in his hand. The ghost spoke again. He said that the captain was now cursed, from that day on he would forever sail the seas, unable to enter the port. His ship will always sail ahead of the storm. “Bile,” said the shadow, “will be your wine, and red-hot iron will be your meat!” Horns will grow on the blasphemer’s forehead, and his face will turn into the muzzle of a tiger,” the ghost announced to the taken aback Van der Straaten. But this did not bring the presumptuous captain to his senses. In a fit of recklessness, he shouted to the mysterious stranger: “I don’t care about you! Let it be! I don't care!" After which he turned into a ghost with a tiger's face and horns.
This version has one weak point. Everything is clear with the sadistic captain, it serves him right, the scoundrel! But why did the poor navigator he killed, as well as other members of the team, have to suffer? However, there is an explanation for this too. It is like that. The souls of those innocently killed by the maniacal captain, as they should, flew to their sailor's paradise, and the god-damned captain supposedly recruits the new crew of the "Flying Dutchman" from the drowned, and the more vile and vile their deeds were during life, the better for him.
Be that as it may, since then neither the captain nor his ship has ever been seen again. If this was indeed the case and everyone on board the ship disappeared, then it is completely unclear who brought the news to the world maritime community about the captain’s last public speech, as well as the fact that the ship disappeared precisely off the Cape of Good Hope? However, all these are mere trifles when it comes to the greatest legend of the ocean.
Soon after the mysterious disappearance of Van der Straaten, in the port taverns, sailors told each other chilling stories about a ghost ship under sails the color of blood, appearing out of nowhere, surrounded by a bluish glow, and also disappearing to an unknown destination. Any meeting with him threatens misfortune, and if you see him in a storm, then shipwreck is guaranteed and only the most sinless can be saved. Alas, after the meeting with the Flying Dutchman there were almost never any survivors. In the era of the sailing fleet, when the most restless and desperate went to sea, the sinless were absent from the ships. Legend has it that for his incredible blasphemy and daring challenge to the devil, neither God nor the devil accepted the soul of the stubborn captain, and Van Straaten is doomed to wander the oceans and seas forever. At first, the ghost ship lived in exactly the place where its careless captain once blasphemed - at the Cape of Good Hope; then he began to appear to sailors in all the seas of the Southern Hemisphere. But even this was not enough for the damned Dutchman, and, raising his decayed sails, he rushed to the northern latitudes, frightening sailors across all oceans and seas.
As a rule, the Flying Dutchman suddenly appears near his chosen victim during a storm and bad weather. For some time he remains very close to the unfortunate ship. From there you can clearly see the worn-out and holey hull of the ghost ship, its half-decayed sails, skeletal sailors and the mummy of the captain near the helm. Those who happened to see the captain himself claim that he stands on the quarterdeck, clutching the helm, finally repenting and begging the sky for forgiveness. Some say that they saw his crew - these are skeletons who, baring their teeth in a smile, raise more and more sails.
Needless to say, the spectacle is not for the faint of heart. Sometimes the ghostly crew is motionless, sometimes the skeleton sailors, on the contrary, are very active, they shout something and wave their arms. Captain Straaten is usually more reserved than his subordinates, but sometimes he too lends his thunderous voice. The captain’s speech does not differ in variety; as a rule, he blasphemes, hurls curses (the punishment from above has taught him nothing!), and then promises his frightened listeners a quick death. After this, the ghost ship suddenly turns away and, with sails full of wind, rushes towards the nearest rocks. The doomed ship immediately rushes after him, no matter what the crew does. The lowered sails and the rudder on board are unable to stop this fatal race with death. Finally, when destructive rocks appear in the foam of the waves ahead, the Flying Dutchman easily passes through them and dissolves. Following this, the unfortunate ship hits the rocks, where it meets its end along with the crew. However, it seems that sometimes someone still managed to escape, otherwise how would all the details of this terrible race become the property of the maritime community?
Sometimes the Flying Dutchman suddenly appears in complete calm. However, even in this case, his appearance does not bode well. Despite the calm, the sails of the "Flying Dutchman" are full of wind, and the captain in a thunderous voice asks the sailors who they are, where they come from and what they are coming with. And God forbid you answer the “Dutchman”! Then an unknown force will pick up the unfortunate ship and carry it after the ghost until the ship crashes on underwater rocks or on reefs that have never been in this place before.
There is an opinion that the routes of the Flying Dutchman are distinguished by enviable consistency. Most often, he likes to lie in wait for unwary sailors at the Cape of Good Hope, where the ancient curse was brought to life. In addition, the tireless “Dutch” visits the Cape Horn area - also far from the best place on the planet. The Flying Dutchman often patrols areas of the North Atlantic, and less often the Pacific and Indian oceans. At the same time, he clearly does not like closed seas, although there is evidence of visits by the ubiquitous ghost ship there too.
However, sometimes ghost ships, appearing before sailors numb with horror, do not destroy them. They perform real performances in front of the sailors, depicting scenes of their long-ago wreck, and the same scene of the crash can be repeated dozens of times. There are accounts of these scenes, with people screaming and drowning, with collapsing rigging and breaking hulls. Experts advise: if you happen to meet the “Flying Dutchman” when he is in a benign mood, you need to be patient and watch the repeated plot until the ghost captain himself gets tired of it.
But that's not all! The fact is that, according to the famous legend, once every seven years a strange mail arrives from the Flying Dutchman to ports around the world. The letters contain the names and addresses of people who died a long time ago. No one knows exactly how ghosts transmit their correspondence to the shore. It is believed that when the time comes to transmit correspondence, the Flying Dutchman approaches the first ship oncoming, and the skeletons dashingly throw a canvas kitty bag with letters onto it. This ship is guaranteed a happy voyage, since the spirit of the “Flying Dutchman” now protects it from all misfortunes. At the same time, no one had ever seen letters from oblivion, however, perhaps they were simply silent, afraid of getting involved with vengeful ghosts. Sailors all over the world knew for certain that if anyone opened and read such a letter, he would face imminent death. Sailors, fearing the ghost, superstitiously nailed horse shoes to the masts.
There is another interesting aspect to the legend of the “Flying Dutchman”. It is believed that once every 10 years, each crew member returns to human form for a day, and he can spend this day on the shore in the company of people. They say that at first the “Straatens” took advantage of this heavenly privilege to visit their families.
It is said that the originator of the idea of ghost holidays was the great German poet Heinrich Heine, who gave a romantic twist to the story of the Flying Dutchman and introduced a new element to the existing plot: once every seven years the captain was allowed to go ashore to try to free himself from the spell, having achieved the love of an immaculate girl. Richard Wagner used this option in his opera The Flying Dutchman. In the German opera, the captain, of course, looks more like a German burgher than a Dutch sea tramp: this captain is named van Derdeken, and the girl to whom he proposed is Senta.
It was the Heine-Wagner version of the happy (though not frequent) return to the beloved family of the ghost hero, as we remember, that became the final episode of the famous Hollywood blockbuster “Pirates of the Caribbean”. But there the hero is an American, and therefore very positive and romantic. Yes, and he became a ghost because he gave his life in the name of saving humanity. Thus, we have before us another version of the ancient legend, this time American, with all the required Hollywood “bells and whistles” about American chosenness and sacrifice in the name of humanity.
There is, however, a nuance to the ghost story. The fact is that people, unlike ghosts, are mortal, and therefore, when all the relatives of the sailors of the “Flying Dutchman” went to another world, during their infrequent visits to the real world, they revel in taverns, and at the same time recruit new crew members who are ready sell your soul to the devil for a drink. That is why it is better to stay away from vacationers from the Flying Dutchman. However, distinguishing a cunning ghost from a person is not easy. There is only one reliable remedy - a ghost (like a classic vampire) does not have a reflection in the mirror. Therefore, in many port taverns, until the 20th century, they always hung at least a small mirror, and visitors looked into it from time to time to see if there was a reflection of their next new drinking companion?
According to one version of the legend, van der Straaten could theoretically still receive forgiveness from above. The captain can only be saved by the love of a woman who ardently believes in God. But where does it come from in the middle of the ocean? All hope lies in those rare (once every ten years) daily days off for the captain on shore, but the damned Dutchman clearly has no luck with the ladies. Maybe he just needs to be told that women who believe in God should not be looked for in port taverns? You and I can only hope that sooner or later one of the decent ladies will still give her heart to Van der Straaten, who is tired from centuries of wanderings, and we will all immediately breathe easier - the captain will be forgiven, and the “Flying Dutchman” will disappear forever!
Among other things, sailors sometimes blame the Flying Dutchman for the sudden spoilage of food on board and especially water. Like, at night the damned “Dutchman” slipped past and everything immediately went rotten. Of course, all the dogs can be pinned on Van der Straaten, including making him responsible for loading spoiled products and their poor storage. Perhaps the evil “Dutchman” really does such mischief to people. However, knowing the frenzied and indomitable character of Van der Straaten, it seems to me that he would not have stooped to such a petty dirty trick, but instead would have simply sent the ship he had chosen to the bottom!
If we are really talking about the Dutch captain, then the time of birth of the legend can most likely be attributed to the 17th century, when the Dutch merchant fleet was the largest in the world, Dutch ships plied all the oceans, displacing their predecessors, the Portuguese and the Spaniards, from world markets. and their British competitors. Van der Straaten's blasphemy also looks quite plausible. The Dutch, unlike the zealous Catholic Portuguese and Spaniards, were never particularly pious and it was in the 17th century that they universally accepted Protestantism, which in the eyes of Catholics was the greatest sin against God and outright heresy. Therefore, in the minds of the sailors of that time, only a Dutch heretic could be an inveterate blasphemer.
In the German version, Captain von Falkenberg sailed in the North Sea. The devil visited him periodically, and the captain played dice with him, betting his soul. The captain lost, and his soul turned into a ghost, who was given a harsh sentence.
In a version published in 1821 in an English magazine, the ship (English, of course) was sailing along the Cape of Good Hope when a storm began. Then everything happened almost as in the story with the Dutchman Straaten. The crew begged their captain, John, to change course to take refuge in a safe bay, but he refused and ridiculed the sailors for their cowardice. Meanwhile, the storm was intensifying, and the captain, shaking his fist, cursed God for sending down the test. A ghost immediately appeared on the deck, but the belligerent Captain John ordered him to get away, threatening to shoot him. Seeing that the guest did not obey, the captain pulled out a revolver and shot at him, but the revolver exploded in the captain's hand. After this, the ghost sent down a curse on stupid John to forever rush along the waves, constantly torturing his poor sailors. Anyone who saw the doomed ship of the blasphemer John, of course, does not expect anything good.
The pirates who roamed the seas in the 17th and 18th centuries are also closely associated with legends of ghost ships. In American lore, Captain Kidd's ghost ship roams the seas along the New England coast as Kim searches for the treasure he buried. The ghost ship of pirate Jean Lafitte (also an American, of course) appears in the Galveston area; it is believed that his ship sank in the 1820s.
There were other versions of the legend. According to one of them, the ship was sentenced to eternal wandering because the captain was extremely cruel and offended his sailors. The angry sailors simply complained to higher powers, and they punished the sailor offender. The moral here is clear: do not offend your sailors - and everything will be fine with you.
Of course, the legends about the “Flying Dutchman” could not do without the presence of a woman. In one version, the story of the appearance of the Flying Dutchman takes on an explicit sexual nature. According to this version, it was not some genderless ghost that appeared on the deck of a stormy ship, but a very pretty goddess with good shape. The beauty who arrives to help the poor sailors immediately becomes a victim of the most obscene advances from the scoundrel captain. The legend is silent about how exactly these harassments ended, but it claims that the goddess did not respond to the captain’s advances with love. Perhaps the captain in this case simply did not have enough gallantry or he was in too much of a hurry. Be that as it may, in revenge, the goddess, offended in her best feelings, sentenced the ship to sail until the Day of Judgment. And rightly so, there is no point in grabbing the sides of a girl who has flown to God knows where to help you out of trouble!
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Among all the sea myths and legends, perhaps one of the most famous is the legend of the Flying Dutchman. Many people have reported seeing Captain Van der Decken's ship since it sank in 1641. For their insolence and blasphemy, the captain, nicknamed the Flying Dutchman, and his crew are doomed to sail the seas until the Day of Judgment.
"The Flying Dutchman" by Howard Pyle
Van der Decken's ship was on a trading voyage from Holland to eastern India. After the holds were filled to the brim with silk, spices and other expensive goods, the ship sailed back to Amsterdam. Rounding the southern coast of Africa, the captain thought that it would not hurt to set up a resting place near the Cape of Good Hope, where he could moor and rest before storming the raging waves.
Cape of Good Hope
Fatal flight and curse
As the ship began to round the cape, the captain was deep in thought. Suddenly there was a terrible gust of wind that threatened to capsize the ship. The sailors urged the captain to turn back, but Van der Decken flatly refused. Some believe that he fell into madness, others that he was drunk, but in any case, the captain ordered the crew to move forward. He lit his pipe and smoked, watching the huge waves crash against the side. Werther tore the sails, and water entered the hold, but the captain stubbornly followed his course, spewing blasphemous curses.
Portrait of Captain Van der Decken
Pushed to the limit, the team rebelled. Without the slightest doubt, the captain shot the instigator of the riot and threw his body into the raging waters. The moment the corpse touched the water, a voice was heard asking if Van der Decken would like to wait out that night in the bay. But the daring sailor replied: “I’ll be damned if I go astray, even if I have to hang around here until the day of judgment!” »
"The Flying Dutchman" by Albert Pinkham Ryder
And then the voice spoke again: “Yes, you are destined to forever sail across the ocean with a crew of the dead, bringing death to everyone who sees your ghostly ship, and you will never land at any port, and you will not know a second of peace. Bile will be your wine and red-hot iron your meat! Hearing this sentence, the captain, without blinking an eye, exclaimed: “So be it!”
Ghost ship
Since then, Captain Van der Decken, nicknamed the Flying Dutchman, has been sailing on his ship. Experienced sailors say that the ships that meet him go astray, running into reefs and rocks hidden under water. There is a belief that if you look closely at the waves raging at the Cape of Good Hope, you can see the captain leading his crew of skeletons. But be careful, according to legend, anyone who spots the Dutchman will definitely die a terrible death.
The legend of the Flying Dutchman became famous in 1843 thanks to Wagner's opera of the same name. But the reason this legend lives on to this day, inspiring many authors (from Wagner and Coleridge to the creators of the cartoon "SpongeBob") lies in the fact that many are convinced that they saw a ghostly ship.
Last scene from Wagner's opera The Flying Dutchman (1843)
One of the most famous meetings took place on July 11, 1881. The Flying Dutchman was encountered by Prince George of Wales (the future King George V) and his brother Prince Albert Victor, who were sailing off the coast of Australia. Prince George then wrote in his diary:
"11 July. At 4 am we met the Flying Dutchman. A strange red light surrounded the ghostly ship with its masts, spars and sails. The schooner was two hundred yards astern and to port, where the officer of the watch could see her. The stern midshipman was immediately directed to the forecastle, but upon arriving there, he did not see the slightest trace of any ship, only a clear, calm sea to the horizon. A total of thirteen people saw the schooner, and at 10:45 a.m. the sailor who first reported the appearance of the Flying Dutchman fell from the mainmast onto the forecastle and was killed.”
Modern scientists are of the opinion that the Dutchman's ship is nothing more than a mirage, a reflection of light rays from ocean water.
Disney films about the adventures of pirates quickly became popular. The captain of the Black Pearl won the sympathy of the audience and became one of the most influential fictional characters.
But the film “Pirates of the Caribbean” is not the only one that can boast of it. Davy Jones, the permanent captain of the ghost ship, appeared in the sequel. His target was the Black Pearl and Jack Sparrow.
Davy Jones "Pirates of the Caribbean" - who is it?
The character was first introduced in the second film of the franchise. Frightening, ugly and bloodthirsty. He killed everyone who stood in his way. To achieve his goals, he used any methods. And the ability to quickly move underwater made him and his team invulnerable. In the Pirates of the Caribbean films, Davy Jones plays the captain of a ghost ship. He is immortal, his ship moves at incredible speed, and he is hunting Jack Sparrow.
A decade and a half ago, Jones made a deal with Jack Sparrow: he returned the legendary ship - the Black Pearl - from the bottom and gave it to Jack for thirteen long years. “Sparrow” agreed, after the expiration of the term, to board the “Flying Dutchman” and serve Jones forever.
But at the end of the contract, Jack did not want to repay the debt. Instead, he stole the chest containing the immortal captain's heart. Jones did not tolerate such betrayal and set himself one goal: to find the one who deceived him and stole the chest with the heart. In Jack's wake, he sent his best creation: the Kraken.
Jack constantly manages to hide from Jones. There is a high probability that it was Calypso who helped him find out about the chest and the trick with the bottle of sand. But it is impossible to run forever from the storm of the seas, the pirates and Jones enter into battle. After a long struggle, the captain of the ghost ship dies, and Turner takes his place.
The Legend of the Ghost Ship
But the real legend of the ship does not quite coincide with the story told in the film "Pirates of the Caribbean". Davy Jones had nothing to do with this ship. According to legend, the captain was appointed
One day he went on a long voyage. In addition to the crew, there were also passengers on board. Among them, he closely followed only one: a beautiful young girl. He wanted to marry a married girl. To achieve his goal, he killed the girl's husband. But the young maiden did not want to associate herself with the killer and drowned herself.
The girl's rage and hatred brought a curse on the ship. Soon the Dutchman ran into a storm. The ship's crew rebelled, wanting to wait out the bad weather in a safe bay. But Phillip was not in the mood for this. He shot the leader of the riot and told the others that no one would set foot on land again until the ship rounded the cape.
However, due to the curse, the ship's crew was no longer destined to set foot on land. According to legend, the “Dutchman” still plows the ocean and terrifies passing ships.
The creators of the film “Pirates of the Caribbean” turned to another legend. Davy Jones is the evil spirit of the ocean, who keeps a locker into which all those who die during voyages end up.
The story of a character from pirate films
Davy Jones lived long before the events of the film Dead Man's Chest. As a young pirate, he fell in love with someone who loved him back. In order not to be separated from her beloved, she turned Davey into the captain of the Flying Dutchman, who was supposed to become a guide for souls drowned at sea.
The reward for eternal life was one day every ten years when Jones could set foot on land and be with his beloved. But Calypso had a difficult character, and after ten years she did not come to the meeting. Seized with anger, Davey cut the heart out of his chest and locked it in the chest. He soon told the Brotherhood Council how to capture Calypso.
After this, Jones no longer wanted to carry out Calypso’s instructions, and the souls of those who died in the seas remained in the water surface. Some were adjacent to the ghost ship.
But due to the fact that Jones broke the oath given to Calypso - to transport the souls of those killed in the seas to the other side - the captain and his crew fell under a curse. The appearance of everyone on the ship began to change. From ordinary people they turned into monsters. And those who tried to resist became part of the ship itself.
Character appearance
The crew of the film “Pirates of the Caribbean” worked on the appearance of Captain Jones. Davy Jones turned out to be terrifying and incredible.
Jones' image was built on three components: sea creatures, Blackbeard and Bartholomew Roberts. Jones's head was the body of an octopus, and his beard was a tangle of tentacles. His left hand was replaced by a claw, and his right leg by a crab.
Before the curse, Jones looked like a middle-aged man with a white beard. Such a “human” appearance could be seen during a conversation between Davy Jones and the goddess Calypso.
The gloomy image of the captain was complemented by the music of Davy Jones from Pirates of the Caribbean, written by Hans Zimmer. The unique charisma of Bill Nighy made the audience empathize even with such a seemingly negative hero.
But if you dig deeper, all of Jones’ actions become clear. For the sake of his beloved, he gave up the opportunity to live a simple human life. He can return to land only once every ten years, and until the end of time he must serve the ocean and Calypso, who betrayed him. It is not surprising that the captain became angry with the whole world and instilled fear and terror even among the pirates.