The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-07-30
TARS' STRANGE BELIEFS
ABSURD sUPERsTITIONs OF MEN OF
THE SEA ARE NUMEROUS.
They Believe n ship That Is Unlucky
mt First VIII Always he unlucky
The Bridge a HoodoO.
New York Mail and Express.

| New York Mail and Express.
When the Columbia stuck her nose into
| the Shiny mud Of Bristol harbor few weeks
| ago and refused 10 be budged the news was
| spread broadcast, yacht racing sailors shook
their heads and whispered that the craft
| was sure to be unlucky. One of the men in
! the vicinity Of .Tebo's basin went so far as
| to say that such exploit so soon after the
/ launching was a sure indication that the
| Shamrock would win. Nobody threw this
human collection OF superstitions overheard
because his hearers also lived in glass
| houses. When the Shamrock was launched
| she. too, went on nautical spree and tried
to sink a passing barge. South Brooklyn
heard this and also said: She, too, is sure
TO DO unlucky." but none would commit
himself as to which would win.
This superstition of sailor folk has existed
so long that not only landsmen. but bands
men on warships believe in the signs and
tokens. Some of the yacht-racing sailors
are as foolish in the belief in hoodooed YES
J sells as were the Polynesian fishermen who
made sacrifices to veranomautom and
Torila for good breeze. The modern fish,
ermen still make sacrifices of a horse to
their fish gods. Among the things still con-
sidered unlucky women, cats and sky
pilots or ministers on board ship, and re-
Gently crew mutinied on being asked to
| go to sea with a bride. Hundreds of miles
| of articles have been printed to show that
vessel unlucky at birth remained so
| through her career, when in reality 1t is the
| other way There are numbers of instances
| cited TO prove the truth of this statement.
| The present Defender was double-action,
| finely riveted, 1S-karat success at getting
into most horrible mess from the time the
Herreshoff workmen began to wedge her up
| for launching until she DEBATED the Goulds'
| Vigilant, and finally won from Valkyrie Ill.
| She did more than any cup defender from
the days of the Magic. the first boat to de-
| fend the trophy that the schooner yacht
America won in England; for the Defender
| went fast that Lord Dunraven was will
| ing to accept any excuse to leave the coun-
try 1t may be recalled that the Defender.
while being launched stuck on the ways at
| Bristol, and 1t became necessary to block
her up again before she could be lowered
10 her natural element All the old cronies
der or step out of bed left foot first in the
morning, held up their hands in horror and
shouted: She's hoodooed." Even tars who
| believe that wind always comes when one
whistles predicted all the disasters along the
beach to the poor. misguided racer. and took
a sort of I-told-you-so habit when the De-
| fender met accidents, until, on Aug. 2 or
the year in which she was launched, she
met with her eleventh and ran aground
near the southwest end of Hog island at the
entrance to Bristol bay. AS lucky craft
since that time. nearly four years ago, the
grounded at New Rochelle a few times since
then, but won from the Valkyrie III as she
| superstition unlucky boat could have
done that. no matter how great her speed.
Another boat put down in the book of OF
| schooner Columbia, the first of that name
to make bid for Americas cup honors.
All the predictions on the list or untimely
| endinQS
| she belonged to Franklin Osgood. She and
the Sappho were known to be the two
| fastest schoonerS in the world, but j. LII
| vonia didn't think so and challenged for
| the Americas cup. The Columbia sailed
! like witch in those days. but if there
| a sandbar or other obstruction within ha:l-
ing distance she to cultivate its
acquaintance. Racing sailors gave her
| sibly unprovided death for her crew when
| she finally was chosen to meet the Livonia
| for the blue ribbon of the sea. The Column
bia won the first two races with ease but
| on the third became disabled and had to fin
ish under head sails. the Livonia winning.
| The Sappho which was owned by w. =.
douglass, stepped in, II being impossible
TO repair the Columbia in time. and made
| even shorter work of the Englishman than
Osgood's schooner had done. Lester Wal
lack acquired the Columbia after that and
sailed her for fifteen consecutive years
without paying marine doctors penny for
any 'unlucky" exploits.
In the merchant marine, as well as war
| ships and yachts, the galley yarn of ''un-
lucky at birth, unucky at DEATH has been
knocked in the head The White Star line
steamer Britannia has no rival in the world
| at money-making unless 1T be her sister
boat, the Germanic. and yet the Britannia
was in trouble at her launching She had
as wt he a9p Of the the snS
| valla line, in May, 1887, when they came to-
gether in dense fog $50 miles east of Sandy
the Celtic. badly disabled. into port, and
during her time the Britannia has made 800
where more lucky jooO ships have not realized
liz riy nod
showing the Britannia to be a wonderful
ship. and an examination of this article
shows that up to that time she had carried
total of $3.50 saloon, and 1S5. so steerage
passengers. and / 100000 tons of freight with
total in earnings of more than $4,000
The Britannia commenced running i'm the
Liverpool and New York service of the
company in 1874 and Travelled 10000 miles
without renewal of engines or boilers: was
under steam 900 hours and under way
100000 hours; burned $4,000 tons of coal. and
her engines up to that time had made $780,
1000 revolutions Pretty good for ship
originally pronounced unlucky, and so good
that record has never been equaled. And
ship. good or bad, depends more or less on
those who are running her.
The Daphne was, slated as another I'M
| lucky boat, and sailors wouldn't go in her
l'for time She was an English steamer
end capsized the day of her launch, drown
much worse if she went down in the middle
of the ocean: but she was raised. and is now
the shf as as tods ht AMID
hasn't met with accident in years
| The piotboat Sommer N. Smith was con-
| sidered another hoodoo, because at her
launch she misbehaved. on Memorial day,
| 1896. Mrs. Margaret Plant. widow of the
steamship man, was chosen to christen the
vessel. then on the ways of the Newport
News Shipbuilding Company. The port list
ed to port In going overheard and the water
| poured into her deck, and many jumped
overheard in fright when the craft ca
| reened. Two persons were drowned. 1t was
the first and last mishap TO the boat which
| has been earning money ever since
The Launching of the 12,950-ton English
| battleship at Blackwell on June q of last
| year was attended with the drowning of
twenty-seven spectators. who were swept
away by the back water that surged against
the eighty feet of staging which they
were standing.
So ii is In any number of other cases even
| to Fall River liner. The modern sailor
does not believe all the yarns he hears and
Is not nearly as superstitious as his old
time shipmates. Unlucky ships at the start
are no longer feared. and If anything make
the most fortunate vessels in the end.