Our apologies to anyone looking for paranormal activity… you (probably) won’t find any here because by ghost ship we mean vessels no longer in service. In the U.S. most ghost ships are owned by the government. Know collectively as the Ghost Fleet, the official name for this collection of decommissioned ships is the Reserve Fleet. What is the purpose of keeping these ships around? Presumably by “mothballing” them the Navy has the chance to reactivate the vessels in the event of another world war. More commonly they are used as spare part depots, coral reefs, museum ships, or are eventually scrapped. Some, however, have uncertain futures as in the case of the SS Independence.
Telstar Logistics tells us;
During the last year or so a prominent new landmark has appeared on the San Francisco waterfront — and no, this time we’re not talking about that wretched skyscraper at One Rincon Hill. This point of interest is located a little farther south, in a Pier 70 berth at the historic Union Iron Works shipyard (now operated by BAE Systems). It’s a 1950s-vintage cruise ship, actually, and it’s unlikely that anyone passing through the city’s Dogpatch neighborhood in recent months would have missed the sight of the vessel’s distinctive smokestacks, which are painted in festive tropical colors.
The ship is the former SS Independence, and she’s now in retirement. Jonathan Haeber (aka Tunnelbug on Flickr) recently managed to get aboard the Independence, and he brought back an entire gallery’s worth of images for the rest of us to oogle.
Jonathan has the photos on his Flickr page but they can best be seen on THIS PHOTO SLIDESHOW (preview below).
The legend of The Flying Dutchman is said to have started in 1641 when a Dutch ship sank off the coast of the Cape of Good Hope:
Vanderdecken’s Mistake
In the year 1729, a Dutch ship called the Flying Dutchman1, captained by the infamous Vanderdecken, set sail towards the Cape of Good Hope, Africa’s southernmost tip which has long been associated with difficult sailing conditions and shipwrecks. Vanderdecken was a violent and disturbed captain who feared nothing and refused to back away from any situation. As the ship approached the Cape a violent storm broke out. The fierce winds, gigantic waves and terrible lightening threatened to sink the Flying Dutchman, but the twisted and fearless captain had a threat of his own. There and then, Vanderdecken swore an oath to the Devil that he would round the Cape even if it took him until Doomsday (the day that the world will come to an end). This foolish act brought a terrible curse down upon the captain, his crew and his ship. From that moment forth they were forced to roam the mighty seas for all eternity as a ghost ship.
Omen of Disaster
From that fateful day to the present, many sailors claim to have seen the Flying Dutchman haunting the seas. It is believed that anyone who sees the ship will have misfortune fall upon them. So powerful is this belief that King George V of England himself, as a young prince during his naval days, purported to have encountered it, although a prince is not someone who immediately springs to mind when considering unfortunate people.
One method used by mariners to ward off the curse of the Flying Dutchman was to nail horseshoes to the masts of their ships, as this was supposed to bring good luck.
The Flying Dutchman - an Explanation
Many people would be sceptical of the existence of a ‘ghost ship’ and quite rightly so. No conclusive evidence for any type of ghost has ever been gathered and most scientists refuse to believe that they exist at all. To this end they have come up with an explanation for the supposed sightings and even those people who do believe in ghosts would have to admit that it is quite a good one.
The theory goes that the ghost ship is nothing more than an optical illusion. Apparently modern day mariners are used to the sight of hazy-looking ships appearing over the horizon; they are simply mirages caused by the refraction of light rays. Although the existence of the Flying Dutchman and Captain Vanderdecken is known, it is likely that the stories of a phantom ship were started by superstitious sailors who saw exactly this kind of mirage.
Nevertheless, no definitive proof exists either way so it would be advisable for anyone going on a cruise to steer clear of glowing ships with billowing sails, hovering several feet above the water.
