Superstitions of Sea
What sailors believed in the early days
The high-tech merchant ships with astute sailors we see today were not common when humans first started to explore the sea.
Unlike the Bermuda triangle stories, the crosswind of ocean-myths come from much older days.
Here are a selected few:
1. Evils of banana: In the early 1700’s it was observed that nearly every ship of Spanish south at the Atlantic that disappeared at sea was carrying a cargo of bananas.
2. Sunday is the best possible day; Sunday sail, never fail.
3. A stolen piece of wood mortised into the keel will make a ship sail faster.
4. Pouring wine on the deck will bring good luck on a long voyage.
5. Dolphins swimming with the ship is a sign of good luck.
6. It is unlucky to kill an albatross: they host the soul of dead sailors.
7. When the clothes of a dead sailor are worn by another sailor during the same voyage, misfortune will befall the entire ship.
8. A shark following the ship is a sign of inevitable death.
9. Never say the word ‘’Drowned’’ at sea.
10. A sailor who died from violence or being lost at sea was said to go to ‘Davy Jones’ locker.
11. Whistling on the bridge is forbidden as you will ‘’whistle up a storm’’.
12. A woman on board is bad luck.
13. Gold earrings would improve a sailor’s eyesight, or if he died on a foreign port to bear his funeral expenses.
It seems quaint even to think about the repercussions of old myths today which were once reverent.
PS: This piece is my first publication of any kind, edited here for better reading experience © Author
[Initially published on ‘SAGOR DAK, 2012’, page-81, Golden Jubilee Issue, Bangladesh Marine Academy.]
