|
Ghost
ships have held
a special place
in tales of morbid
mystery for as long
as crews have set
sail toward a seemingly
endless horizon,
floating above depths
in which death awaits
the cursed and ill-fated.
Some ghost ships
appear as spectral
apparitions, said
to be omens of doom
for those who see
them, emerging from
grey mists or stormy
seas with silent
sailors mournfully
staring from the
decks.
The ship of the
Flying Dutchman
is the most legendary
of these, named
for the captain
who doomed his crew
in a mad attempt
to round the Cape
of Good Hope in
stormy seas, murdering
the mutinous and
damning the rest.
|
Just as chilling
are the wandering
ships with dead
or mysteriously
vanished crews whose
reality is a fact
of life at sea.
Such ghostly, pilotless
vessels can be as
small as a tiny
fishing boat or
as large as a modern
tanker. The fate
of their crews could
be attributed to
murderous pirates,
insanity from lack
of food and water
after being lost
for days, or any
number of frightful
scenarios.
The Rime of the
Ancient Mariner
is the most famous
literary ode to
a spectral ghost
ship. Bram Stoker
invoked the haunting
image of the doomed
ship Demeter, bereft
of her crew by the
bloodthirsty Count
Dracula, her captain
found dead, tied
to the wheel.
|
