Fata Morgana from the Italian "Fairy Morgan" is the optical illusion that from a maritime point of view, makes it look like a ship is floating above the sea. It can be on sea or land. Today there are scientific explanations for this phenomenon, but in the God fearing days of old, this used to be a source of great tales spun from salty old sailors. Probably still is in some corners of the world when an uneducated ear has the patience to listen.

It happened to be a common sight in areas of Italy and sailors there came up with a story. Why bother with science or facts, much more entertaining to spin a yarn.

Ghost Ship That Sales The Seven Seas

The Flying Dutchman is a tale about a ghost ship that sales the seven seas , never returning to port, always on the move with an eyrie look about her and no hands to be seen on deck. This folklore yarn probably came about as a result of a sailor or two seeing a distant ship with the Fata Morgana light thing going on.

The reality, just like the mirage illusion of a distant lake in the hot dry shimmering desert sand, the Fata Morgana effect is a trick of light on the brain.

There's No Such Thing As Fairies.

Ships don't float above the sea. Never have. Fairies don't lift ships. Never have. There's no such thing as fairies. Never has been. Still, it's a nice old tale from yesteryear, where it belongs. The flat earther(s) will probably believe in it and that's just fine as long as they stay away from me, I really couldn't care less.

About The Author
Mike Oday
Chewells Contributor

Mike has been heavily involved in the marine environment all his life. From learning to sail as... »

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Replies

• Scotty (Aug 6, 2024)
  Why are these fairies lifting up ships anyway?
• Scotty (Aug 6, 2024)
  How many faries does it take to lift a ship? Was Fairy Morgana the chief and there were like a million of these little rascals lifting up ships? As I said before, WHY?
• Mike Oday (Mar 14, 2024)
  The long lost art of story telling. These people didn't really believe in this stuff, even back then. They couldn't explain the phenomenon, but everyone over the age of 15 knew there was probably a better explanation than weight lifting fairies. But everyone would chuckle along together with their companions and enjoy the story, because that was as good as it got without an iPhone. People talked, they had conversations, stories to tell and enjoyed each other's company. Over the years, stories got passed from one person to another by word of mouth and like Chinese whispers, the stories grew arms and legs and in this case, a pair of wings too.
• Aziziz (Jan 8, 2024)
  Did no one ever think that, there's all these ships getting lifted all the time over the years and yet I've never met a sailor who had heard a tale about someone actually being on one of these ships when they get lifted up.
• Roxy (Dec 29, 2023)
  It was the best of rum in those days. Home brew fire water, messed with the brain cells!
• Farage McD (Dec 11, 2023)
  Farage McD I've actually seen this effect without knowing it was even a thing. Thought there was something wrong with my eyes until I looked it up online.

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