The Traditional Ballad Index has a little bit of informaiton on this song:

Flying Dutchman, The (Vanderdecken) [Laws K23]

DESCRIPTION: The crew has just escaped a harsh wind on a dark night when the Flying Dutchman appears. The fearful captain orders the crew to take in the sail. The Dutchman fails, as always, in its attempt to enter Table Bay. The sailors pity doomed Vanderdecken
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1881
KEYWORDS: storm ghost ship supernatural
FOUND IN: US(MA) Ireland
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Laws K23, "The Flying Dutchman (Vanderdecken)"
Doerflinger, pp. 148-149, "The Flying Dutchman" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ranson, p. 45, "The Flying Dutchman" (1 text)
DT 406, FLYDUTCH*
Roud #1897
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Firth c.13(92), "The Flying Dutchman", H. Such (London), 1863-1885; Harding B 11(963) [last verse illegible], "The Flying Dutchman"; Firth c.26(130), "The Flying Dutchman!"
File: LK23

---

Go to the Ballad Search form
Go to the Ballad Index Instructions
Go to the Bibiography
Go to the Discography


The Ballad Index Copyright 2007 by Robert B. Waltz and David G. Engle.

---

There a a few entries in Roud.

---

I don't know if I can link to one of the broadsides at the Bodleian Library at Oxford.

---

Wikipedia has quite an interesting study of the Flying Dutchman. Here's the introduction:

The Flying Dutchman, according to folklore, is a ghost ship that can never go home, doomed to sail the oceans forever. The Flying Dutchman is usually spotted from afar, sometimes glowing with ghostly light. It is said that if hailed by another ship, its crew will try to send messages to land or to people long dead. In ocean lore, the sight of this phantom ship is a portent of doom.

---

http://www.occultopedia.com/f/flying_dutchman.htm also had an interesting presentation of the story of the Dutchman.