Flying Dutchman, The
2 of the 7 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Flying Dutchman, The. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
An Encyclopaedia of Occultism (1920)
Sailors in Holland long believed that a certain Dutch skipper, van Straaten by name, was condemned as a penalty for his sins to sail for year after year through the seas beating around the Cape of Storms, this being the old name for the Cape of Good Hope; and crews returning to the Zudyer Zee after voyaging in the region aforesaid, use to declared that they had seen van Straaten's mysterious craft, and had fled from it in terror. This legend is probably a very old one, albeit the exact Fontenettes date at which it became current is indeterminate; and it should be added that the story is found in the folklore of various countries besides Holland, notably Germany. Several German versions call the ill-starred seaman von Falkenberg, and maintain that it was not near South Africa, but in the North Sea that his spectral barque commonly hovered; while some of them contend further that the devil was wont to pay periodic visits to the captain on board his ship, and that frequently the two were seen playing dice on deck, the stakes at issue being von Falkenberg's soul. The tale soon found its way from folk-lore into actual literature, among the greatest of those writers utilising it being Heinrich Heine, and in his rendering the sailor has a chance of salvation. That is to say, the fates allow him to put foot on terra firma once every seven years; and if, during his brief period of respite, he contrives to win the affection of an unsullied maiden, liberation from perennial sea-wandering will be granted him as reward. Heine's form o the story appealed keenly to Wagner, who was always prone to regard woman devoutly as before all else a regenerating force; and accordingly the great composer wrote a music-drama on the subject of The Flying Dutchman, or as he calls it in German, Der Fliegende Holländer, in which the scene is mostly laid in the North Sea, while the sailor himself is called van Derdecken, and the maiden to whom he makes advances is Senta. This opera was first staged at Dresden in 1843, and, though it can hardly be said that it won speedy appreciation, at least majority of Wagner's works. Marryat has also a novel it did not elicit quite the scorn meted out originally to the Fohat is in Theosophy, the power of the Logos. (See Theon the subject.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
The, a spectral ship which sailors claim is seen in stormy weather off the Cape of Good Hope . The stories vary as to why the ship haunts this particular locality. One account is to the effect that on approaching this point the passage of which is ever attended with difficulty, the captain of the ill-fated ship swore a fearful oath that he would round the cape though he beat there till the Judgment Day. He was taken at his word and is still struggling to make the point. Another story is that a murder was committed on the ship, and in consequence the vessel is doomed never to enter a harbor. It is believed that the story started from a mirage seen near this place, but not understood. Captain Marryat has written a novel entitled The Phantom Ship, and one of Wagner's operas, Der Fliegende Hollander, is based on the story.