Superstition and the Sea

 

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Superstition and the Sea

July is National Learn to Sail month! Why not start by reading up on some weird sailing superstitions? For example:

Born in water, safe from drowning

Some rare babies are born with a caul on their head: a piece of the amniotic sac which holds the baby and the amniotic fluid during pregnancy. Sometimes when the sac breaks during birth, a piece will harmlessly stick to the baby’s head. The fact that a baby lives nine months submerged in water is perhaps why cauls are thought to protect against drowning. Sailors or their families would try to purchase pieces of cauls for protection at sea.

Visit my blog for more sea superstitions and some watery writing prompts, such as:

Best of luck. Say you had a completely un-superstitious sailor. Someone who, in opposition to the entire crew, whistles, eschews tattoos, and packs an umbrella into his sea chest. But the guy has ridiculously good luck. He’s never been shipwrecked, never even had a drop of rain wet his boots. His ships always reach port a week ahead of schedule, and their cargo fetches a grand price. Perhaps other sailors are determined to figure out exactly what this guy is doing that makes him so lucky. Before you know it, everybody’s dressing like him (down to which shoe he puts on first), eating what he eats, and learning the tunes he whistles (though nobody is brave enough to whistle, they just hum). What would a captain pay to have this sailor on his crew? And why is he so lucky?

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