On 11 July 1881 the Bacchante was off Cape Town when a strange sail was spotted. Prince George, the future King George V later wrote this in his diary:
"At 4 a.m. the Flying Dutchman crossed our bows. A strange red light as of a phantom ship all aglow, in the midst of which light the masts, spars and sails of a brig 200 yards distant stood out in strong relief as she came up. The lookout man on the forecastle reported her as close to the port bow, where also the officer of the watch from the bridge clearly saw her... Thirteen persons altogether saw her.[7] The Tourmaline and Cleopatra, who were sailing on our starboard bow, flashed to ask whether we had seen the strange red light... At 10.45 A.M. the ordinary seaman who had this morning reported the Flying Dutchman fell from the foretopmast crosstrees on to the topgallant forecastle and was smashed to atoms."
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Marryat, Frederick - The Phantom Ship
Fitzball, Edward - The Flying Dutchman; or the Phantom Ship: a Nautical Drama, in three acts (1826)
Wagner - The Flying Dutchman (in English)
Wikipedia Entry
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