Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1884-07-12
SAILORS, sUPERsTITIONs.
Mariners Reasons for Believing Certain
Things Unlucky.

exists only among the very ignorant Is
far from true. yet with the sailor SUI
perstition seems to be Unborn. Let
one attempt TO deny Jacks theory
about "Davy Jones locker. IN the
bottom Of the sea, and he will be met
with strong, if not convincing argu-
ment that he is mistaken. DaVy
Jones is credited with having many
set laws, which, though they may be
unwritten, must be rigidly observed.
To 90 to sea on Friday, the carrying of
dead bodies at sea, the killing of a
cat. the harming Of one of Mother
Carey's chickens" the dropping of a
water bucket overheard while wash
ing down decks, are believed to be
offenses for which Davy Jones will
demand satisfaction either by the sacr1-
flee of one man, or the pulling of ship
and its entire crew into his locker.
The carrying of corpse on the
ocean longer than it is necessary TO
sew it up in canvas with heavy
weights to insure its sinking below
the depths which fishes frequent,
will cause a panic among a ships
crew. The killing of a cat on board a
vessel is thought extremely unlucky,
and woe to the person who should be
found guilty of such an act. A naval
vessel on voyage from Peru to New
York, by way of the Straits of Ma
gellan. had on board an il-tempered
and ger orally disreputable cat which
no one had any love for. This animal
mysteriously disappeared one night
after the vessel left Valparaiso. and
though one Of the firemen was sus-
pected, the proof could not be OBJ
tanned. For the remainder of the voy-
age the captain and several of the
other officers, as well as all of the
sailors, predicted the vessel would
surely be lost. They daily watched
for the king of the mighty deep to APP
pear and demand satisfaction for the
crime; yet the vessel reached the
New York navy yard a1ter remark
ably pleasant voyage throughout. In
this case the wives and sweethearts
who had lcngingly waited for three
years for the ships return were given
the credit of hauling on her (imag-
inary) line and bringing her safely
past Davy Jones minions.
There is scarcely sailor who does
not verify believe that it is ;lnlucky to
go to sea on Friday. yet it has been
asserted that the masters of some Of
our big steamships would as soon sail
on Friday as on any other day. Yet
the records of Fridays do not support
the assertion and this can be seen by
anybody who will peruse the shipnews
column of the Saturdays papers LeC
one go around among the officers of
the many steamship lines and zee ii he
will find any whose vessels regularly
sail on Friday. Only few weeks ago
one of the large ocean steamships
steamed away from her pier in New
York on Friday and anchored in
Gravesend bay until the following day
before she went to sea. 1t was said
that the captains excuse was :" to
make repairs" but it came from good
authority that he had strong aversion
to starting on voyage on Friday. The
ocean tramp" steamship Rhimindda,
which was wrecked on the Nova
Scotian coast. sailed from New York
on the previous Friday. This superSti-
ton seems to prevail in yachting
circles as well, and the question was
asked few days ago, when was
there ever yacht regatta on Friday?"
Regattas do sometimes occur on that
day, however, but it is seldom.
Jack has many curious ideas. For
instance, if the moon has sharp horns
it betokens fine weather, and if it is
lying on its back with both horns up
bad weather is at hand. Again:
when the sun sets in a silver bell,
An easterly wind is as sure as ---"
When one of Mother Carey's chicks
ems, or stormy petrels, is seen near the
ship storm is approaching, for these
birds are rarely seen in fair weather.
1t is forecasJle notion that the petrol
is SO named from st. Peter, on account
of its running with closed wings over
the surface of the waves. This brought
to mind the walking of ST. Peter upon
the water, and the sailors think the
bird was therefore called "petrel," as
sort of diminutive of the apostles
name. These birds have been known
to follow a vessel during storm for
many days, apparently with neither
food nor rest, and without tapping
their wings. If one of these little
birds should be swept aboard in
great storm, as is frequently the case,
no sailor will touch it.
The dolphin and porpcise are I'M
welcome TO the sailor when they sud-
denly appear during calm, and, if