Evening star., 1932-03-27


choosing that way of announcing itself,
knowing no other? :, don't know
only know that deepwater sailors accept
these things. and are not unduly worried
about them.
Every sailor knows Of similar occur
rences, of things that cannot logically be
explained away. Is 1t any wonder, then,
that he turns to superstition? That he
breads to kill the albatross, thinking the
spirits of his dead brothers fly on in that
magnificent bird? That he has lucky
days and unlucky; lucky ships and IN
lucky?
There are haunted ships, too. The old
Rothesay Bay was supposed to be one of
them. True, never saw any ghost, but
was often fearful of seeing one.
sailor without head was supposed to
come over the knightheads on stormy
nights, with his head held under his arm.
He had been one of the port watch heav-
ing the fore tack down by means of the
focs1 head capstan one wild night, when
the wire tack carried away suddenly, flew
up with a vicious jerk, and, whirling
round his neck, cut off his head before
he could even scream. Ever after that,
on nights when the wind was bowling
and the sea sending cold sprays over the
bark's blunt bows, this headless seafarer
was supposed to come climbing in over
the knightheads from the sea where they
had buried him, and to take his place
at the capstan where he had been
killed.
I never saw this ghost, but many
wild night climbed in fear to the focs1
head for my lookout turn, and hesitated
to get too far from the feeble glow of the
sidelights. I was Is then. Some of the
sailors swore they had seen the ghost.
There used to be many more super
stitions than there are now. The older
shell-back was highly superstitious
person. A hatch-cover upside down or
the loss of a bucket overheard filled him
with foreboding. He was aghast at the
accidental tearing of flag. Everything
bad that happened would be ascribed to
some malign influence. He had strong
prejudices and fixed beliefs. He would
not, for example, think of going to sea
without pinch of salt In his pocket, and
If he ever, by mistake, put his left foot
first in boat or landing, he promptly
repeated the maneuver correctly with
right foot first, fearing direst conSe-
quences if he did not.
| lE looked upon all women at sea with
intense disfavor, captains wife or
no captains wife. Captains wives often
interfered seriously with the working OF
the ship-a sailing-ship master under
petticoat government was always an un-
thinkable anachroniSm, yet there were
many such.
They loved odd numbers, yet there
were many "unlucky" numbers among
. these. Different ships had their own un-
lucky days, which were always dreaded.
Different ships had their own habits; this
still stands with sailing ships. -
For example, the Grace Harwar was
generally good ship to get away from
a port, but hard ship to get into the
next one. There were spots on the ocean
where she was always becalmed. Capt.
Svensson, when I was there, frequently
consulted charts going back 10 years to
figure his chances for such and such
section of the voyage. He would point
to a spot in the ocean, marked by many
thumbings and many crosses exasperat-
ingly close together, and say, "We shall
wait here four days. The old ship al
ways does" And she did
All sailing ships had such habits The
Herzogin Cecilie loved to dawdle in the
horse latitudes of the South Atlantic;
the Bellands was at her best sweltering
on the Line; the Wray Castle loved to
break sailors hearts.
They were as different as women, the
old ships. 1t was not matter for any
great wonder, then, that the superstitious