''The'' ''Flying Deer'' (

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

: ''Het fliegende hert'') was a 17th-century

ship. She was lost at sea with all hands during a hurricane off St. Kitts in 1638.

History

''The Flying Deer'' was an early 17th-century sloop in Dutch service. She was recorded as participating in the lucrative trans-Atlantic

tobacco Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...

trade. In August 1638, the sloop was anchored off island of St. Kitts when the

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

-flagged ''

Kalmar Nyckel ''Kalmar Nyckel'' (''Key of Kalmar'') was a Swedish ship built by the Dutch famed for carrying Swedish settlers to North America in 1638, to establish the colony of New Sweden. The name Kalmar Nyckel comes from the Swedish city of Kalmar and nyc ...

'' (which was returning from its first voyage to establish the colony of

New Sweden New Sweden ( sv, Nya Sverige) was a Swedish colony along the lower reaches of the Delaware River in what is now the United States from 1638 to 1655, established during the Thirty Years' War when Sweden was a great military power. New Sweden f ...

) also dropped anchor off the island. The captain of ''The'' ''Flying Deer'' was a friend of

Peter Minuit Peter Minuit (between 1580 and 1585 – August 5, 1638) was a Wallonian merchant from Tournai, in present-day Belgium. He was the 3rd Director of the Dutch North American colony of New Netherland from 1626 until 1631, and 3rd Governor of New ...

, a prominent explorer aboard the Swedish ship, and so Minuit and Captain Jan Hindricksen van der Water of ''Kalmar Nyckel'' were invited aboard ''The Flying Deer''. During the visit, a powerful storm (possibly a

hurricane A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depend ...

) swept up on the island, battering the ships at anchor. ''Kalmar Nyckel'' rode out the storm at sea, but ''The Flying Deer'' was never seen again and presumed to be lost with all hands.

References

Ships lost with all hands Age of Sail merchant ships of the Dutch Republic 1630s ships {{Merchantship-stub