Idaho County free press. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho Territory) 1886-current, 1896-09-11
SAILORS SUPERSTITIONS.
They Had Stranger Forms In Hariy
DAYS Than Are Now Mantle sted.
stolen Wood Afortiscd Into the Keel 70
Make the Vessel Sail Faster-Lawyefs'
Women and Clergymen Looked se
with Disfavor on saiIing-vessels'

Lieut.. J. D. Jerrold Kelley gives IN
interesting chapter Of ''Superstitions
of the Sea" in the Century. After
studying them fairly well. he doubts II
modern sailors are more superstitious
than any other class with equal train
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; it summoned apparitions for
her ill-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 1t made the
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 unlucky 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 flutter;
the ibation poured on the deck, the
publication by the priest, the anoint-
ing with egg and sulphur, find their
exemplars in the well-aimed and wasted
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
mold-loft.
4 Lawyers, clcrgymen and women are
ever looked at with disfavor on sailing
ships as sure to bring ill-luck-lawyers
undoubtedly, from the antipathy O.
sailors to the class, dislike so pro
nounced that "sea-lawyer" is . very
bitter term Of reproach, and "land
shark" is synonym. Clergymen-
priests andl -rsons-are unlucky, prob
ably because IT their black gowns ant
their principA uty on shipboard-tha
of consoling til lying and burying tn
dead-thoughr .siblybecauSe the devil
the great storD raiser, is their espccia
enemy, and sends tempests to destro
them. Women-who may reason on
their unpopularity?-save that q shi
is the last place for them, or perhaI
because of the dread of witches, for {
all spell-workers in human form non
is so dreaded as the female brewers {
, hell-broth. Like the priests OF til
, middle ages, they can raise a priM
: quality of storm by tossing sand {
stones in the air, and, like Congreve
by selling contrary winds and wrecke
: vessels.
t Certain families could never get &
f employment under their own su
. names, not even such members
were born with oauls, a. they wei
i. tabooed, barred; ana many animals
hares, pig black eats, for example
' could neither be Carried ror mentions
: on shipboard, save undervery slrlngel
t conditions Scarborough wives kel
|: a black cat in the house to assure the
: husbands lives at sea; but ON voyag
4 every black cat carried a gale in h
;, tail, and If she became unusually frc
n icsome q storm was sure to folio,
{, Years ago, on board the flagship Fran
e lin, up the Mediterranean, we had
d yarn that illustrated survival of tn
q antipathy to certain forms OF a
n imals. Two old quartermasters we
:, heard during the morning watch e
changing in the cockpit dismal g
3 periences of their dreams the night l
o fore. One was particularly harrowin
Us for the narrator wound up with: San
s. I say, Bill, was never SO afeared
is my life; when woke up it seemed
true as day, and was oil Of tremt
like an asp on Sqf."
"What's that?" said the other. "Pi
y down; don't mention that reptile; b
10 . hoodoo on shipboard."
Figure heads were at first images
gods, and later of saints and sea-hero
and were held in high reverence, a
ID the eyes glaring from each bow Of
m Chinese junk enable the boat to VI