Sierra County advocate. [volume] (Kingston, N.M.) 1884-1960, 1886-03-20
PROVED BY FACTS.
"Fishermen Don't Have Any Su-
perstitions, Sir"

perstitions, Sir"
There is probably no class of people
SO thoroughly imbued with superstition
as fishermen. Ii makes no difference
whether they eke out livelihood in
the Polar regions. underneath the eQua-
tor or in the balmy. sunny South, the
fact is precisely the same The fisher
man and his little ones are followed to
the grave surrounded by all sorts of
signs. sounds and warnings, for which
no logical rcasoA can be offered. or,
indeed, any explanation whatever be-
yond the fact that these signs and
form. 1t may be his incessant COM
munings with heavenly bodies They
serve not only as his geography but his
grammar, as well as his arithmetic, for
he can with astonishing accuracy give
you dates, facts and figures derived
alone from his stellar and lunar obscr-
vations. Then the movements of the
heavenly bodies speak words of warn
ing to the fishermen much more accur-
ate and well defined than any compu-
tation made by the astute meteorologi-
( cal student or the Sclf-conStituted
weather prophet There is no such
! thing rs a probability with a fisherman.
If he says there is going to be bad
! weather within a certain number of
( hours or days, it is likely nine times
out of ten that his prophecy will be
! fulfilled. He can tell to Il nicely by
the conditions of the sea swell, that
there had been storm on certain
coast or Father Neptune has made up
his mind to make things lively here or
there. In fact, the fisherman is a liv-
ing, moving, animated barometer.
Smoking well-colored mcerschaum
pipe and discussing Il cup of strong black
coffee without either milk, sugar or
Franklin Reiley, a silver-haircd. veteran
fisherman, was found in Il South street
eating saloon. Large, elsar blue eyes,
n bushy head of hair, well-knit frame
and hand as hard as a marlin-spike,
Frank presented the true type of the
toilers of the sea. He stoutly denied
that fishermen were superstitious, and !
maintained that their reasonings were !
founded on fact not fiction. No book |
for him! He had the heavens for his |
map, and nature was his master.
''Just tell me something, Frank,
said a Mail and Express man, ''about |
a iisherman's life and his supersti-
tons
Fishermen don't have any super
CT III, 10,
far below those that you landlubbers
are a prey to-
Don't you consider it a superstition
not to go fishing on Fridayp Why
should You select that day as being
unlucky?"
"No | don't, and can tell YOU, sir.
that since the hazy morn when Noah
ark ran ashore on Mount Ararat, Fri
day has been an unlucky day for fish
ermcn. You just try it and You Il find
I'm right
Then you say Friday wet. Sunday
wet. How do you arrive at that con
clusionp''
"Smply because it is so; you cant
alter that. can you? Yes, me boy, I've
grown old in the business, and Eve
never seen wet Friday that wasn't
followed by a wet Sunday"
"Why is il that you will never allow
on board fishing boatP"
because, me boy, il is calling up
Old Nick to make his appearance, and
he always brings wind with him"
Fishermen don't like to begin any
on Monday. What is
the reason of that superstitionP''
II told you just a minute ago il was
no superstition. The meaning of it is,
bad Monday, bad week"
Again, if one of your shipmates
should smash a looking-glaSs on board ,
ship, you give up all hope of getting a
good haul. ~
.'Yes, sir. never saw it to fail vet,
and just as sure as il occurred gale
came on and blew great guns, com .
pelling us to run for shelter. 1t that
failed, then we caught no fish. I've
known men that have had to 90 out of |
he business, as they were very devils !
At smashing things. and no one would !
,ail with them
''When going on a fishing trip, | I
mean, of course, deep-sea fishing, how
$ il that you can tell just exactly where y
o set your nets or east your lines?" c
That's as easy as smoking your y
lipe. You see, a rock or bank is situ- !
tied exactly by the compass in GER II
ain bearing or locality. Well, we can a
ell that Just as well without COM 2
,ass, and it is very simple. Suppose =
he fishing-ground is ten, twenty or q
hirtv miles from the land. we sail in a
he direction of it until we get two
leadands in one. as it were. Then =
We can tell to dot how far we are Y
nut and consequently we know where "
he fishing-bank is, hiu we sail on until a
MY one of the headlands or banks is g
isible; that gives us so many miles, u
nat jnst as exact as if you measured it 2
sith tape-line, so that we know just d
fhere we are. A high church-steeple, n
lighthouse or land-blutf all tend to ,
how the accustomed eye of fisher
lan where he is. >"
"Then il isn't true you can tell by Il
be water?' u
I'm some eases we can, but as gen p
raj rule our land bearings are the u
1ost reliable. b
There IS no emergency that would q
ompel a fisherman TO make any repairs p
n Sunday, either in the sail depart p
lent, rigging or hull of the vessel. Il