Flying Dutchman

"The Dutchman sails as its captain commands!" "And its captain is to sail it as commanded!"

- Davy Jones and Cutler Beckett

The Flying Dutchman was a galleon captained by the legendary Davy Jones.

Characteristics
"Aye. The same terrible vessel whose very timbers are cut from the bodies and souls of doomed seamen."

- Torrents to Jack Sparrow

The vessel weighed 420 tons and was 170 feet long, stern to bow. It was armed with forty cannons, two of which were triple-barrelled chase guns. It was considered to be the fastest ship both on and under the waters of the Caribbean. However, it was unable to maintain pursuit of the Black Pearl, which had an edge with a following wind, while the Dutchman was said to be faster with a headwind.

In such cases, the crew called upon the Dutchman's most potent and powerful weapon to destroy their enemies. The ship was fitted with a giant Kraken Hammer, used to summon the Kraken from the ocean depths. The Dutchman was the only vessel immune to the Kraken's destructive rage.

The prow of the ship resembled a fanged mouth, and featured a carved figurehead resembling the grim reaper and his scythe. The ship's stern, a sight witnessed by few human sailors, was covered with lamps and windows arranged in the pattern of a fanged mouth. The deck above was intertwined with the skeletons of ferocious sea beasts.

History
"The Dutchman needs a living heart, or there'll be no captain. And if there's no captain, there's no one to have the key."

- Wyvern to William Turner

Command of the Flying Dutchman was originally given to Davy Jones by the sea goddess Calypso. The two were in love, and Jones agreed to an immortal life, and one day out of every decade to spend with his love, in exchange for ferrying the souls of those who died at sea into the afterlife. The dimension these souls passed through became known as Davy Jones' Locker, and the Flying Dutchman could pass through it accompanied by the green flash. However, Jones was forsaken by Calypso, who did not meet him on his first day ashore. Jones refused to continue with the duty, and the ship became cursed. Its crew slowly transformed into amalgamations of sea creatures, and the ship itself became crusted with barnacles.

An eternity of service
"Once you've sworn an oath to the Dutchman there's no leaving it, not until your debt is paid."

- Bootstrap Bill Turner to William Turner

Having rejected his true duty, Davy Jones set himself up as the lord of the sea, toying with the fates of those souls he had once sworn to serve. Jones commonly offered dying men a choice: either embrace death or postpone the judgement and serve for one hundred years aboard the Flying Dutchman. However, because of a gambling game referred to as Liar's dice, in which pirates wagered their years of service, some remained onboard far longer. In fact, some had their very souls lost to Jones forever, literally becoming part of the ship itself. When Lord Cutler Beckett gained control of Davy Jone's heart, East India Trading Company marines were stationed aboard the ship to guard the Dead Man's Chest. It sailed the seas, destroying pirate vessels for the Company. It pursued and captured the Empress, Captain Sao Feng's vessel, killing Feng in the process. The Empress and its crew escaped, however, and journeyed to Shipwreck Island. The Flying Dutchman, at the head of Cutler Beckett's armada, followed.

Showdown with the Black Pearl
"Hard to port, and into the abyss!"

- Davy Jones

During the conflict between the Pirate Lords and the East India Trading Company, the Flying Dutchman was pitted against the Black Pearl in combat around a whirlpool. The captains of the respective ships engaged in single combat amongst the rigging of the Flying Dutchman while the ship's crew fought below. Towards the end of this battle, Captain Davy Jones stabbed William Turner, killing him, but Jack Sparrow stabbed the heart of Jones by moving Turner's hand as it clutched a blade. In this way, Jones was killed and Turner brought to life as the new captain of the Flying Dutchman.

A new captain
William Turner served as the captain of the Flying Dutchman for the next ten years, bound to ferry the souls of drowned seamen into the afterlife, as Jones had before him. After ten years of service, Turner's true love, his wife Elizabeth, had remained faithful to him and so the curse of Calypso's disloyalty was broken, and Turner was free to return to his family.



Behind the scenes

 * The look of the ship was inspired by the 17th century Dutch "fluyts" vessels and the Vasa, a Swedish warship which sank in 1628.
 * The Flying Dutchman is currently on display at Castaway Cay.

Appearances

 * Pirates of the Caribbean: Jack Sparrow 1: The Coming Storm
 * Pirates of the Caribbean: Jack Sparrow 7: City of Gold
 * Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
 * Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (video game)
 * Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End