The Flying Dutchman

Stunning

I read a long write-up about the story/legend of the Flying Dutchman but it was years ago and much was forgotten so I did some more reading, much easier now with the internet and Google. Some people claimed the captain was based on an actual 17th-century Dutch captain named Bernard Fokke who was remarkable for the time iiit took him to sail from the Netherlands to Java. Earlier, Arabian and Portuguese ships would've taken the equivalent of 12 months but in 1611, a Dutch navigator, Hendrik Brouwer cut the voyage down to 6 months. There's a lot that's not explained as maybe someday, I'll look up more on it. Bernard Fokker though did it in 3 1/2?months! It was attested as he carried dated letters to the governor at that time. I also learned that in the 17th century, the size of the Dutch merchant fleet probably exceeded the combined fleets of England, France, Spain, Portugal, and the German states! You probably learned that in history at school but most is new to me.