Caleuche

El Caleuche or The Caleuche ( ), also known by other names such as Buque de Arte (the Magic Ship) or the Barcoiche, is a legendary ghost ship from Chilote mythology in southern Chile.

El Caleuche or The Caleuche ( ), also known by other names such as Buque de Arte (the Magic Ship) or the Barcoiche, is a legendary ghost ship from Chilote mythology in southern Chile. ==Nomenclature== The Caleuche is also known as the Buque de Arte ("the Magic Ship" ). Natives also refer to it as the Barcoiche, the Gauiteca, the Saiza, El Marino or Barco Marino ("Marine Ship" ) or Buque de Fuego ("Fire Ship" ). While ("Ghost Ship") has been given as another alias proper name, earlier commentators use this term for ghost ship lore in general, including the legends from Europe from which the Chilean version may have derived certain base elements. ===Etymology=== One theory derives "caleuche" from Mapuche/Mapudungun/Araucanian (var. ) "to transform, to change condition" and "people". Alternately it may derive from "human body" and che "people". There is also the hypothesis that the legend originates from an early 17th century Dutch ship Kalache or El Calanche, lost at sea (Cf. ). ==Eyewitness accounts== An incident being ascribed as an alleged sighting of this ghost ship occurred some time in 1909 or earlier (though the account says there was no vessel). It was witnessed by the various crew members on a Chilean navy boat, as attested by Agustín Prat, 2nd in command of the naval Huemul who wrote an account of it in a letter that he saw "two large, white lights (each about the size of a lantern).. hovering no more than one metre above surface, with no vessel in sight". The two light or flame bars joined together to form one large flame pillar, and travelled at a speed between 7 and 15 miles per hour. A 1911 testimony of a luminous ship passing by was given by the guard officer and lantern-lighter aboard the ship Copiapó, documented in the port authority archives of Valparaíso. The ship "passed near them without stopping, without making noise, without stopping or responding to their signals". ==Origin explanations== Several hypotheses have been proposed to scientifically explain a luminous ship. The light may be some sort of phosphorescence out at sea; it could be bioluminescence from the glowworm ( ) or a large colony of Noctiluca scintillans. Or it could be some electrical phenomenon. There are some who classify it as a phenomenon of OSNI (abbreviation of , i.e., unidentified submerged object) or OFNI (abbreviation of , i.e., "unidentified floating object"). Between the various hypotheses that have been proposed on the origin of the legend, it is suggested that it could be a readaptation of the European legend of the ghost ship known as The Flying Dutchman. It has also been argued that it was based on real events, such as the Dutch ship Kalache (also given as El Calanche), led by Vincent van Eucht, which disappeared in the southern seas in the early 1600s. Another interpretation is that it was originally only an invention to hide contraband operations in the Chiloé Archipelago. ==In media== The legend of the Caleuche is referred to in Alastair Reynolds' 2001 novel Chasm City, when the Chilean crewmembers of a generation ship discover a "ghost ship" trailing the flotilla of colony vessels and dub the ship Caleuche. The Caleuche is a ghost pirate ship that sails around the globe, captained by the Sirena Chilota mermaid from the original legends in The Vampire Blade Book Series by M.C. Waring. In film and television, Raúl Ruiz's Three Crowns of the Sailor (1983) and Litoral (2008) and Jorge Olguín's Caleuche: The Call of the Sea (2012) are all loosely inspired by the legend. ==Scientific namesakes== Caleuche Chasma, the deepest canyon on the moon Charon, is named after the Caleuche. The exoplanet HD 164604 b is also formally named Caleuche. ==See also== Mapuche mythology Chilean mythology Chiloé Magellan Marlborough (1876 ship)#Ghost ship - allegedly spotted in the Strait of Magellan ==Explanatory notes== ==References== ===Citations=== ===Bibliography=== Cárdenas Tabies, Antonio. El Triángulo del Pacífico Sur. Imprenta ARCA. 1996. 74 p. (Spanish) s.v. " " Mancilla Pérez, Juan. Magia y brujería en Chiloé. Secretos de Mitología. Medicina Popular. 2006. 74 p. (Spanish) Conte, Jeanne (1999). "Tapestry of Horrors". World & I. Volume 14:192-200-Via MasterFILE Complete Torres, Sergio Mansilla (2009). "Mutaciones culturales de Chiloé: los mitos y las leyendas en la modernidad neoliberal isleña" Convergencia: Revista de Ciencias Sociales, volume 17, issue 51, starting on page 271-VIa Fuente Académica Premier.

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