The flying dutchman

Mirrors in the sky: Demystifying the legend of the Flying Dutchman

Ever since the 17th century, sailors have been haunted by the story of the Flying Dutchman, an airborne ghost-ship that can never put in to port and is forced to endlessly sail the world’s oceans. While the sight of a ship floating above the horizon could unsettle any seafarer, meteorologists can explain it as the result of a Fata Morgana – a dramatic ‘superior mirage’ caused by the air below the line of sight being significantly colder than that above it.
Fata Morgana not only produce mirror images, but can magnify objects that lie beyond the horizon. Ships can therefore be below the horizon but their reflected light is distorted to such an extent that they appear to be ‘sailing’ in the sky. This is the likely explanation of the Flying Dutchman.