The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1894-07-21
,OMENS OF THE SEA
They Had Stranger Forms IN Early
Days Than Are Now Mamie sted.
Stolen Wood Mortised Into the Keel 20
Make the Vessel Sail Faster-Lawyers,
Women and Clergymen Looked at
with Disfavor on Sailing-yessels.

ing and opportunities.
In earlier days superstition was as
much part of every ship as the water
she was to float in, for it entered with
the wood scarfed into her keel and
climbed to the flags and garlands waving
at her mastheads; it ran riotously at her
launching, controlled her name, her
crew and cargoes; it timed her days
and hours of sailing and conveyed her
voyages; 1t summoned apparitions for
her lll-fortune and evoked portents
and signs for her prosperity; it made
winds blow foul or fair, governed her
successful ventures and arrivals, and,
when her work was done, promised q
port of rest somewhere off the shores
OF Fiddler's Green, where all good
sailors rest eternally, or threatened
foul mornings deep in the uncanny
locker of Davy Jones of ballad memory.
| In many countries stolen wood was
mortised into the keel, as il made tho
ship sail faster at night; though if the
first blow struck in fashioning this keel
drew fire, the ship was doomed to
wreck upon her maiden voyage. Silver
| usually coin placed in the mainmast-
step went for lucky ventures, and mis-
guided indeed was the owner who per-
mitted any of the unlucly timbers to
enter into the construction. Something
OF the ceremonious character given to
launchings survives to this day; where
of old ships were decked with flowers
and crowns of leaves, flags now iutter;
J hn hn IL
publication by the priest, the anoint-
| ing with egg and sulphur, find their
exemplar5 in the well-aimed and wasted
magnums which are shattered on the
receding cut-water as the craft, re-
| leased from the ways, slips, we'll
| creased, into the sea; the jar of wine
/ put to his lips by the captain, and then
emptied on deck, the cakes and ale set
/ before the crew, the stoup of wine
offered to passers-by on the quay, and
the refusal of which was an evil omen
all are realized in these sadder lus-
! trums by the builders feast in the
| moid-loft.
] Lawyers, clergymen and women are
ever looked at with disfavor on sailing
ships as sure to bring ill-luck-lawyers,
undoubtedly, from the antipathy of
nounced that 'sea-lawyer" is very
| bitter term of reproach, and land
SHARK" is a synonym. Clergymen-
priests and parsons-are unlucky, prob
ably because of their black gowns and
their principal duty on shipboard-that
of cOnsoling the dying and burying the
dead-though possibly because the devil,
the great stOrIn-raiser, is their especial
enemy, and sends tempests to destroy
them. WOmen-who may reason out
their unpopularity?-save that a ship
is the last place for them, or perhaps
because of the dread of witches, for of
ali spell-workers in human form none
is so dreaded as the female brewers of
hell-broth. Like the priests of the
middle ages, they can raise a prime
quality of storm by tossing sand or
stones in the air, and, like Congreve's
Lapland sorceress, are supposed to live
by selling contrary winds and wrecked
vessels.
Certain families could never get sea
employment under their own sur
names, not even such members as
were born with cauls, as they were
tabooed, barred; and many animals
hares, pigs, black cats. for example
could neither be carried nor mentioned
on shipboard, save under very stringent
conditions. Scarborough wives kept
n black cat in the house to assure their
husbands lives at sea; but on VOYAGES
every black eat carried a gale In her
tail, and if she became unusually frol-
icsome a storm was sure to follow.
Years ago, on board the flagship Frank
lin, up the Mediterranean, we had
yarn that illustrated survival Of this
antipathy to certain forms of an
imals. Two old quartermasters were
heard during the morning watch ex-
changing in the cockpit dismal ex-
perienceS of their dreams the night be-
fore. One was particularly narrowing,
for the narrator wound up with: And,
! say, Bill, l was never so afeared in
my life; when l woke up it seemed as
true as day, and L was all of tremble
like an asp on leaf"
Whats that?" said the other. "Pipe
down; don't mention that reptile; he's
hoodoo on Shipboard."
Figure heads were at first images Of
gods, and later of saints and sea-heroes,
and We're held in high reverence, and
the eyes glaring from each bow of
Chinese junk ena BILE the boat to vow
age intelligently-fo mo have two
eyes, how can see? No can see, how
can do?' is the shibboleth of their sail
ors. Ships bells were blessed. and to-
day II a mistake in their striking is
made by stupid messenger boy. they
are struck backward to break the spell.
In one ship 10 which l was attached
the bell had come down to rs from the
Ticonderoga, through the Thetis, I
think, and was supposed to be under
the special control of blue spirit OF
mischief. Why the blue spirit should
indulge in such vagaries is hidden, but
in the middle Of deep-sea nights, when
the moon rode in an suspicious quarter,
and the wind blew with the force, and
from the direction. necessary for the
spell. the blue bell was bound TO make
a complete circle, and ring out nine
bells Stridently. OF course no one
ever heard or ought to hear nine bells
at sea, for eight bells are as fixed in
limit as the decalogue; but this was
promised Whether the conditions
failed 70 coordinate. ! cannot say, but
though the bell was watched by all
sorts and conditions Of men. the occult
ceremony was never performed for our
benefit