The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1898-06-02
HooDoos OF THE SEA.
Soma OF the Peculiar superstitions of Salt
Water Sailormen.

may not be more superstitious by nature
uhan their fellows, but in that wonderful
expanse of sky and water the smallest
incident of mysterious nature is magni-
Led into an omen. That mariners of the
olden time invested the sea with super
natural powers and misunderstood its
messages is not surprising, since modern
science and the most enlightened under
standing fail to account for its battling
settling on the masthead of ship at sea
causes panic among the crew, not man
of whom would dare to harm the stranger
guest for fear Of shipwreck and death.
But the worst hoodoo of a ship is cat
Stories of the i'll luck brought on ship
board by cat have become history. The
cats of the steam sloor of.war, the Resaca
the boat detailed for special duty in the
survey of the isthmus of Panama, made
themselves famous by the persistency
with which they caused disaster. The
first ons 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
i'll and homesick came on board to see his
countrymen, and the cat jumped on the
ships rail as soon as she saw him,
scratching and mewing as if possessed.
She would have gone overheard, but the
men jumped to the rescue and locked up
their second pet for safekeeping. But tine
vigilance of pussy's 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
mo rning. Nothing would persuade the
crew into 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
TaIcahuano, and here one of the men
who was less superstitious than the rest
obtained fine kitten, which took kindly
to all on board and grew to he great
pet being No. s of the ships cats and an
improvement upon its predecessors. ~
But one morning at sea No. killed
herself in mad race after rat. The
men got together and predicted bad luck
| of the afterguard said: Boys l feel
| bad" and staggered against the bull
warks. Before he could be helped he died,
holding his throat with both hands and
saying with his last breath, 'All throt,
tied here" There was never another cat
taken on board the Resaca.
| Spanish sailors on certain days OF the
i vvanH Low oil ot ncoto a
beat the sheaves and pins of the blocks to
drive the devil out OF the gear, and the
noise they make is horrid din. This
is said to have originated in an order
given which resulted in disaster. A GER
tain Spanish squadron that had besn
anchored some time was surprised by the
enemy and could not make sail and es-
| cape, as all the blocks were rusted and
| useless.
| The Spanish sailor has no prejudice
against starting out on q voyage ON Fri
| day, that being the day on which Column
| bus started on his voyage of discovery.
| English and American sailors will not
sail on that day if they can help 1t. They
would consider the whole trip hoodooed
| by such beginning.
| Whistling for wind is another favorite
superstition of the man before the mast.
| This is a trick when ships are becalmed,
| as whistles rash bid tempests roar" A
"capfuI of wind or "a bagful' usually
! defines the quantity.
| The phantom ship SO often seen by
navigators is not purely the apparition of
romance. but mirage, something almost
as wonderful, but not of the supernatural
| order.
| The horseshoe is still popular contri-
button by sailors to the fetioh 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 yoyaging Ship some
reason why no Government ship is al
lowed to carry women passengers 1 Sail
ors, too, prefer a ship that has 7mascu-
line name, or Is called after some man,
or is geographical. A line of steamers
will often employ certain selection OF
| names to the exclusion of all others. The
| Cunard steamers end all their names
| with ola" a feminine terminal, but one
| that has been the reverse of disastrous,
since that line has never lost ship.
Captains are not as superstttiOus as
| their crews, being of better education,
and that may account for the names of
sailing vessels being identical with that
of wife or sweetheart. Certain names are
known in tina history of nautical nomen-
painted over and other names substituted,
but bad luck attended the ship, and not
even reconstruction 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
| new ship was the Aurora said:
"Why don't they leave poetry to the
navy folk and stick to the Susannahs and
Mary AIMS and Jemimas of my dayi
Aurora How is plain able seaman to
answer hail with such mouthful as
that behind his teethP ''
Sailors cling to their superstitions with
tenacity worthy of better cause. Pos.
sibly it is more from custom rather than
from an actual belief in their efficacy.
The man at the wheel will tell you that
he cannot steer straight if there is a
cross-eyed passenger on board, and he re-
peats charm OF words to annul the evil /:
st. Peterl st. Peter Pray give us q
charm,
Against the bad eye that would do us @
harm.
EXAMINING COL. GOULD'S BAT.
Terry,