Intriguing tales, enthralling stories, and more sailing superstitions—the stuff of sailors’ dreams. Looking into the origins of sailing superstitions is fascinating, and more sailing superstitions exist than you thought possible.

Cats

Having a black cat on board a ship is considered lucky, and if the cat is polydactyl (having extra toes), all the better. Cats are excellent catchers of rodents, and were made welcome on ships as they helped to protect rigging and cargo from rats, and also stopped the spread of diseases carried by the pests. Lonely sailors far from home welcomed the addition of a cat to the ship’s complement as it increased feelings of security and friendship.

Cats were thought to be able to detect bad weather coming and would show it by licking their fur against the grain, sneezing, or frisking about, which meant that hail, rain, and wind, respectively, were coming. In fact, the sensitive inner ears of cats enable them to be aware of low atmospheric pressure, which is a harbinger of bad weather.

Pigs

Don’t mention pigs when you’re on a boat, or you’ll bring bad luck. Apparently, seamen in the West Indies believed that the pig was an important animal to the Great Earth Goddess, who ordered the winds. They never spoke the word pig out loud but referred to the animal using euphemisms such as Turf-Rooter or Curly-Tail.

You may want to check with your skipper if the ban on the word pig means no bacon or ham because killing a pig on board was sure to result in a tremendous storm.

Bananas

There are various theories about the why, but bananas or anything related to bananas, including banana-scented or banana-flavoured items, are strictly forbidden on boats.

• Most of the ships trading between Spain and the Caribbean in the eighteenth century that sank were carrying cargoes of bananas.
• Spoiling bananas give off ethylene gas, which could fill a cargo hold with disastrous results. Because ships had to travel quickly to avoid fruit fermenting, sailors were unable to do any fishing.
• Before the advent of pesticides, bananas often carried hidden toxic spiders, which may have bitten and killed a number of seamen.

Next time you go out on the water, be aware that there are more sailing superstitions around than you realised. Bring your polydactyl black cat, but on no account come on board with anything related to bananas or pigs.

Photo Credit: Sharon Mollerus via Compfight cc

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