Sailing Superstitions

Sailors were a superstitious lot, not surprising given the risky nature of the job.  They would spend months at sea at the mercy of high winds, rough seas and cutlass wielding pirates.  To try and guarantee a safe passage many superstitions grew up on deck.  Here are a few sailing superstitions and their origins.  Whether you believe them or not?……I’ll leave that entirely up to you!

Albatross

My favourite of the sailing superstitions concerns the albatross.   If an albatross follows a ship it is thought of as good luck.  Sea birds, in general, are believed to be good luck as they indicate that land is nearby.  An albatross, however, can stay out at sea for months and travel many miles from land.  Indeed they can circumnavigate the earth in just 45 days. Ancient sailors believed that the albatross carried the souls of dead sailors.  If an albatross followed a ship it gave protection to all on board.  They thought sailors from the past were watching over the ship and crew in the form of an albatross and it would bring good luck.  For this reason, it is considered very bad luck to kill or injure an albatross.  The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, the poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, tells the story of the Mariner and the bad luck that befalls the crew after he kills an albatross following the ship.

Whistling

Whistling on board a boat is considered very bad luck.  It is said to “whistle up the wind” and thus a storm.  It could also come from the fact that messages were sent around a big sailing ship via the use of a whistle.  For a voice to carry around a big ship with the wind and sea adding to the general noise was impossible.  Whistles could be heard over this noise.  Different blasts on the bosun’s whistle carried a different meaning for all the crew to hear.  Whistling could have interfered with this system and resulted in confusion if other whistles were heard.

Tattoos

Sailors have long been associated with tattoos and it is believed to be good luck to have a tattoo. They started to become popular around the mid-1700s with sailors returning from the South Pacific expeditions on Captain Cook’s ships.  Cook had seen may “savages” with tattoo’s during his voyages of the South Pacific Islands and his men started to copy the practice.  The swallow tattoo, in particular, is associated with sailors and was a symbol of experience.  One legend holds that for every 5,000 nautical miles a sailor had travelled a barn swallow was tattooed onto the chest hand or neck.  Two swallows meant over 10,000 nautical miles had been achieved.  With sailing being a very dangerous occupation the more swallows a sailor had the greater his sailing skills and experience. The swallow also represented homecoming.  Swallows always return home to the same place each year.  Sailors would have a tattoo of a swallow at the beginning of a voyage to ensure a safe passage and homecoming.

Friday

It is considered bad luck to set sail on a Friday.  This could be for many reasons.  One quote is that Jesus was crucified on a Friday, and with religion playing a big part on board a sailing ship, this would have been most important.  There is also an urban myth that the British Navy or the French Navy (depending on where you lived!) was so frustrated with these sailing superstitions that they commissioned the building of a ship to be named HMS Friday.  The keel was laid on a Friday, she was launched on a Friday, and set sail on her maiden voyage on a Friday.  The commanding officer was none other than one Captain James Friday. Once over the horizon, HMS Friday was never seen again!

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