According to fictional accounts, the Flying Dutchman is a ghost ship that can never go home, but must sail the sea forever. If she is stopped by another ship at sea, her crew of the dead will try to send messages to people ashore (who are long since dead).
In most versions of the story, the captain swore that he would not stop sailing in the face of a storm, but would continue to round the Cape of Good Hope until Judgment Day. In other versions, a horrible crime took place on the Flying Dutchman, and the crew was infected with a plague or curse, and not allowed to sail into any port forever. From afar, the Flying Dutchman is usually described as having a glowing ghost light to it.
There have been many stories about The Flying Dutchman, but its origin is uncertain, as some believe it to be Dutch, while others say it came from an English play of the same name. In modern times, The Flying Dutchman was used in the movie, Pirates of the Caribbean (the ship seen here).