Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1896-12-04
THE PASSING or a .yssRsnTloN.
Sailors RecoDciled to the Presence Of .
Dead Body Aboard Ship.

Dead Body Aboard Ship.
One of the most popular superstitions
Of sailormen used TO be against having
a dead body aboard ship, but it no
longer holds gCod-on passenger ships
ut least-for most Of them are now pro-
vided with the means of preserving the
body of person who dies OH the voyage
until port is reached. This is generally
done by incasing the body in an alright
metallic cCffin, one or more being car
ried by every first class passenger vessel,
and there is seldom u murmur from
Jack. Steam and other modern i'm
provements have worked us many
changes in sailormen as they have in
the vessels they man, ana in consequence
the old time salt, with his superstitions,
his foibles and his notions, is fast dis
appearing before the advance of his less
romantic and no more efficient brother.
Going 10 sea ain { what it used to
be, said an old sea captain, with a
SIGH TO the writer, 10 whom he had
been bemoaning the decadence of sailing
vessels, which he ascribod TO the rapidly
growing habit of building enormous
steam freight carriers. 1.-THE fine old
ships, banks and other sailing craft are
going, ard IN place of real sailormen
you see lot of paint scrubbers and
iron Founders that hardly knows how
to splice a rope and hasn't az much su-
perstition as goat. They don't care
much whether the cargo is dead bodies
or pig iron. -
In the old days the presence Of a
corpse aboard was considered bound to
bring storms and other bad luck. and
even now on sailing vessels an immedi-
ate burial over the side is the proper
thing when death occurs if the skipper
cares to keep the forCcastle in good hu-
NOR. On the big steamships, carrying
hundreds of passengers each trip, a
death is no uncommon thing, and if
there are friends of the dead person
aboard they are likely to have the body
brought to port. It has become u COM
mon custom, too, TO ship the bodies Of
persons who have died abroad home by
steamships, and on several occasions
small mortuary chapcls have been con-
structed aboard. Otherwise the collins
are carried as if they were IN ordinary
part of the ships cargo.
The skipper already quoted told Of
one of the many examples Of the sailors
superstition on the subject that had
come under his observation. A friend
of his was few years ago commanding
big clipper ship engaged III the south
American trade. He was kindly man,
and sailors were always glad to ship
with him, not only lecUuse of lis rot
being hard taskmaster, lat also be-
cause his ship was known as "a good
feeder, which is the hlghr Il cnCOmium
Jack can pronounce upon skipper CT YES
sci. On his last voyage the captain was
bound from Callao for Antwerp with "a
cargo of fertilizer. He fell sick and died
soon after passing the Horn. His body
was prepared and boxed and placed be-
low in the depths Of the cargo.
The first mate, no succeeded 10 the
command, was not the lest Of sailors or
popular with the crew. Head winds and
gales were encountered in rapid success
sion, aud the grumbliIg Of the men
soon broke ont into almost open mutiny.
1t was the presence Of that body III the
hold Of the ship that was causing all
the trouble, and it must be got rid of.
The men went aft ard so informed the
mate and then without Ceremony heaved
the body Of their late captain over the
side Whether the weather improved
then the skipper couldn't say. But he
was certain of one thing, and that was
that seamanship and superstition, which
always so together, would be things Of
the past when the paint scrubbers and
iron Founders have crowded the real sail
ormen off the seas New York Tribune,