The age-herald., 1898-07-07
HOODOOS OF
 THE HIGH SEAS

From the Chicago Times Herald
 Men who go down to the sea in ships may not be more supersttious by nature than their fellowss but in that wonderful eXpanse of sky and water the smallest in- cident of a mysterious nature is magnifed into an omen. That marines of the olden time invested the sea with supernatural powers and misunderstood its message is not surprising, since modern science and the most enlightened understanding fail to accout for its baffiing vagaries.
 That is why a strange bird settling on the masthead of a ship at sea causes a panic among the .crew, not man of whom would dare to harm the stranger guest for. fear of shipwreck or death.
 But the worst hoodoo of ship is a cat. Stories of the i'll luck brought on shipboard by a cat have become history. The cats of the steam sloop-of-war, the Resaca, the boat detailed for special duty in the survey of the Isthmus of Panama, made them selves famous by the persistency with which they caused disaster. The first one was washing her face on deck when she suddenly disappeared as if she had been an astral body, and two days later the sailor whose pet she was fell overheard and was drowned
 Six months later the Resaca anchored off the coast of Callao and new cat was found, but one day an American who was ill and homesick came on board to see his countrymen and the cat jumped on the ships rail as soon as she saw him, scratch ing and moving as if possessed. She would have gone overheard, but the men jumped to the rescue and locked up their second pet for safekeeping. But the vigil lance of pussys guard relaxed and she was on deck when the American stranger came the next day, and this time the cat jumped into the water and was drowned. And the American visitor died on the ship before daylight the next morning. Nothing could persuade the crew into a belief that the one disaster was not the cause of the other.
 But the end was not yet. After long cruise the Resaca put into the harbor of Talcahuano, and here one of the men-who was less superstitious than the rest-ob- talned a fine kitten, which took kindly to all on board and grew to be great pet, being No. of the ships eats, and an im- provement upon its predecessors.
 But one morning at sea "No. 3" killed herself in mad race after a rat. The men got together and predicted bad luck, when the captain of the seaboard watch of the afterguard said, Boys, I feel bad" and staggered against the bulwarks. Before he
 
 with both hands and saying with his last breath, "All throttled here" There was never another cat taken on board of the Resaca.
 Spanish sailors on certain days of the week of month lay aloft at sunseat and beat the sheaves and pins of the blocks to drive the devil out of the gear, and the noise they make Is a horrid din. This Is said to have originated in an order given which resulted in disaster. A certain Span- ish squadron that had been anchored some time was Surprised by the enemy and could not make sail and escape, as all the blocks were rusted and useless.
 The Spanish sailor has no prejudice against starting out on a voyage on Friday, that being the day on which Columbus started on his voyage of discovery. English and American sailors will not sail on that day if they can help it. They would consid- CT the whole trip hoodooed by such a be- ginning.
 A sneeze at sea would hoodoo the ship unless it happened to turn to the right, when it brings good luck. Sailors have faith in odd numbers and naval gunners carry out this belief in the number of times they fire salute.
 Whistling for wind Is another favorite superstition of the man before the mast. This is a trick when ships are becalmed, as "Whist1es rash bid tempests roar" "cap- fu1 of wind'' or "a bagfur' usually defines the quantity.
 The phantom ship, so often seen by navi- gators, is not purely the apparition of TO- nance, but a mirage, something almost as wonderful, but not of the superstitious or der.
 The horseshoe is still popular contribu- ton by sailors to the fetish of good luck A distinguished precedent is given for this. Lord Nelson believed in the luck of the horseshoe, and had one nailed to the mast of his ship Victory.
 A peculiar superstition Is that if women are taken on board a voyaging ship some disaster will follow. This may be the req son why no government ship is allowed to carry women passengers. Sailors, too, pre- fer ship that has a masculine name, or
  cal A line of steamers will often employ a certain selection of names to the exclu- sion of all others. The Cunard steamers end all their names with 'ia,' feminine terminal, but one that has been the reverse of disastrous, since that line has never lost a ship. Captains are not quite as superst- tious as their crews, being of better educa- tion and that may account for the names of sailing vessels being identical with that of wife or sweetheart. Certain names are known in the history of nautical nomen- clature as hoodoos. They have been paint ed over and over names substituted, but bad luck attended the ship, and not even re- construction saved it. Then, if the name must be feminine, the crew want something they are familiar with. One old tar who was told the name of a ney ship was the Aurora said
 "Why don't they leave poetry to the navy folk and stick to the Susannahs and Mary Anns and Jemimas of my day? Aurora! How. is plain, able seaman to answer a hail with such mouthful as that behind his teeth?'
 Sailors cling to their supersttions with