Superstitious sailors believe that the only good day to set sail is Sundays. Second Monday in August: The second Monday in August is the day the kingdoms of Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed. First Monday in April: The first Monday in April is the day Cain slew Abel.Thursdays: Thursdays are bad sailing days because that is Thor's day, the god of thunders and storms.Fridays: Fridays have long been considered unlucky days, likely because Jesus Christ was crucified on a Friday.Don't Sail On These Days.ĭon't Sail On Thursdays, Fridays, the first Monday in April or the second Monday in August. Welcome the Lurking Dolphinsĭolphins swimming with the ship are seen as a good sign. Beware of the Lurking SharkĪ shark following the ship is a sign of inevitable death. The only way to reverse the curse is by drawing blood, so usually a good punch in the nose will do. If someone says "good luck" to you, it is sure to bring about bad luck. These include obvious ones like "drowned" and "goodbye". Deathly LexisĪt sea, some words must be strictly avoided to ensure the ship and crew's safe return. A red sunset indicates a beautiful day to come, while a red sunrise indicates rain and bad weather. "Red sky at night, sailor's delight red sky in the morning, sailors take warning" the old saying goes. Mariners have long held the belief that whistling or singing into the wind will "whistle up a storm". Having a male child on board was a sign of good luck. Male children born on the ship were referred to as "son of a gun" because the most convenient place to give birth on deck (if you weren't too afraid of having a woman on board) was on the gun deck. Her bare breasts "shamed the stormy seas into calm" and her open eyes guided the seamen to safety. This is why ships' typically had a figure of a topless women perched on the bow of the ship. That's because naked women "calmed the sea". This kind of behaviour angered the intemperate seas that would take their revenge out on the ship.įunny enough, naked women on board were completely welcome. Women were said to bring bad luck on board because they distracted the sailors from their sea duties. Many boaters continue to avoid bananas at sea, some even avoiding banana smelling sun tan lotion. Their lethal bite caused crewman to die suddenly, heightening the fear that banana cargo was a bad omen. Another danger caused by monkey's favourite fruit fermenting so quickly, was that in the heat of the storage hull, bananas would produce deadly toxic fumes.Ī final theory on the perils of bananas at sea (though there are tons) is that a species of deadly spider would hide inside banana bunches. Fisherman thus never caught anything while bananas were on board. Another theory suggests that because bananas spoiled so quickly, transporters had to get to their destination much quicker. At the height of the trading empire between Spain and the Caribbean in the 1700's, most cases of disappearing ships happened to be carrying a cargo of bananas at the time.Ĭoincidence? Perhaps. No Bananas On BoardĪside from their peels causing many comedians to trip and fall down, bananas have long been thought to bring bad luck, especially on ships. So plunge in if you dare, and discover 13 common sailor superstitions. The uncontrollable nature of the sea has given way to many a nautical lore, each one as curious as the next. Seafaring is one of the world's oldest occupations, so it is only natural that in times where inexplicable events have happened, superstitions have played a major role in providing reasons for their occurrence.
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