I'm co-writing a story about the ghost ship and we're trying to figure out exactly what kind of ship it would have been and how many people would have manned it. It's a story set in a world where ghosts are real, so we're trying to figure out the best way to blend legend with history and trying to find out as much as we can about ships that would have been in the Dutch East India Trading Company during its golden era.
I’m not a historian, but I like your question and the topic, being Dutch I like to take a shot and see if I can help you find out more about the kind of ship and number people aboard the legendary Flying Dutchman.
Firstly it’s interesting to see if the legend itself offers any clues. What I could find about the legend of the Flying Dutchman is that it was established folklore before it was first mentioned in English literature. A good collection of written sources (1795-1881) can be found here by Professor D. L. Ashliman of the University of Pittsburgh. While a recommended read I did not find any direct clues to the type of ship or the number of people aboard.
I did find a clue in The Rime of the Ancient Mariner from 1798 by the English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge. The poem contains an account of an unnamed ghost ship similar to the legend of the Flying Dutchman and a possible influence of that tale. In it Coleridge mentions the number of crew of the ship:
One after one, by the star-dogged Moon,
Too quick for groan or sigh,
Each turned his face with a ghastly pang,
And cursed me with his eye.
Four times fifty living men,
(And I heard nor sigh nor groan)
With heavy thump, a lifeless lump,
They dropped down one by one.
The souls did from their bodies fly,
They fled to bliss or woe!
And every soul, it passed me by,
Like the whizz of my cross-bow!
So four times fifty or 200 men gives a first clue of the number and type of ship.
Switching from literature to the ships in use the VOC at that time we can find a likely candidate in the so called “Spiegelretourschip” or “Retourschip” in short. These were the most important type of ships for transport. In appearance, these ships did not differ much from the warships of the Republic. They were generally armed with the same type of gun, but fewer in number. In times of emergency, these ships could therefore be surrendered to the Admirals, such as during the English Wars. As these type of ships were the most important and common ships they were the only types that were referred to as “the ship” in general as opposed to the specific type of ship
The number of crew generally ranged from 200 to 250 men, which corresponds to the four times fifty men in the Rime of the Ancient Mariner.
Here is a database of a large number of Retourschepen in service for the VOC, several have the exact numbers of crew listed.
There’s are a few replica’s of Spiegelretourschepen in the Netherlands which can give interesting information.
There is a replica of De Amsterdam 1748-1749 at the Scheepvaartmuseum (National Maritime Museum) of Amsterdam (some more photo's)
Another interesting replica is De Batavia 1628-1629 at Batavialand in Lelystad.
For De Batavia I came across this list of persons aboard, with 300 crew and passengers this provides an interesting insight in not just the number but also the different types of people aboard.
Another mention of a ship is De Rooswijck 1737-1740 (for which there is this government project for Cultural Heritage) e:typo's