Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1896-06-20
THE PASSING OF A SUPERSTITION.
Sailors RecOnciled to the Presence of
Dead Body Aboard Ship.

From the New York Tribune
One of tie most popular superstitions of
sailormen used to be against having a dead
body aboard ship. but 1t no longer holds
COCOON passenger ships at least-for most
of them are now provided with the means
CT preserving the body Of a person who
dies On he voyage until port Is reached
This Is generally drre by incasing the body
in an alright metallic coffin. one or more
being carried by every f1rst-class passen-
ger vessel. and there is seldom a murmur
from Jack" Steam and other modern
improvements have worked as many
changes in sailormen as they have in the
vessels they man. and in consequence the
old-time salt, with his superstitions, his
foibles and his notions. Is fast disappear
ing before the advance of his less romantic
and no more efficient brother
Going to sea amt what it used to be-
said sn old sea captain, with sigh, to the
writer. to whom he had been bemoaning
the decadence OF sailing vessels, which he
ascribed to the rapidly growing habit Of
building enormous steam freight carriers
The fine old ships, barks and other sail
ing craft are goirg, and In place of real
sallor1nen you see lot of paint scrub
bers' and iron Founders that hardly
knows how to splice a rope and hasn't as
much superstition as a goat! They don't
care much whether the cargo Is dead bod
les or pigiron'
In the old days the presence Of a corpse
aboard was considered bound to bring
storms al other bad luck. and even now
on sailing vessels an immediate burial over
the side is the proper thing when a death
occurs If the skipper cares to keep the
forecastle in good humcr. On the big
steamships, carrying hundreds of passen-
gers each trip. 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. 1t has become a
common custom, too. to ship the bodies Of
persons who have died abroad home by
steamship, and on several occasions small
mortuary chapels have been constructed
aboard. Otherwise the Collins are carried
as If they were an ordinary part Of the
ships cargo
The skipper slready quoted told of one
of the many examples Of tie sailors su-
perstition on the subject that had come
under his observation. A friend of his was
a few years ago commaEd ding a big clipper
ship engaged in the South American trade
He was kindly man. and sailors were al
ways glad to ship with him. not only be-
cause Of his not being a hard taskmaster,
but also because his ship was known as "a
good feeder" which Is the highest enco-
MUM Jack" can pronounce Upon skipper
or vessel. 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 below
In the depths OF the cargo.
The first mate, who succeeded to the
command. was not the best of sailors or
popular with the crew. Head winds and
gales Were encountered In rapid succession
and the grumbling Of the men soon broke
out into almost open mutiny. 1t was the
presence of that body in the hold Of the
ship that was causing all the trouble, and
it must be got rid of. The men went aft
and so informed the mate, and then with
out ceremt ny heaved the body of their late
captain over the side Whether the wealth.
er improved then the skipper couldn't say
But he was certain Of one thing, and that
was that seamanship and superstition
which alw avs go together, would be things
OF the past when the paint scrubbers"
and iron Founders have crowded the real
sailormen of the seas,