The most famous answer is from the Pirates of the Caribbean film series. In those movies, the Flying Dutchman is his ghostly ship, and he is its cursed captain, bound to ferry souls to the afterlife.
However, the original maritime legend (dating back to the 17th–18th century) doesn’t name a specific captain. The most common traditional name is (or sometimes Falkenburg ), a Dutch merchant captain who swore he would round the Cape of Good Hope even if it took until Doomsday—and was condemned to sail forever as punishment.
