Salty Superstition

Nautical lore and tales of superstitious sailors.

Common Superstitions that Struck Fear in the Hearts of Old Time Mariners.

Omens and superstitions were born at sea where the uncertainty of their fate caused sailors to find meaning in common events.

Salty superstition has a long history among mariners.

Superstition deeply pervades the cruising community, even now. When to set sail, what comes aboard even behavior underway is scrutinized by salts and woe to the sailor who disregards a telling sign. Ignore them at your peril is the unspoken warning.

The farther we get from mainstream society, the deeper the trouble we can encounter.
Still true today but imagine hundreds of years ago setting sail to unknown lands on uncharted seas.
Many sailors never returned from their journeys and that's fodder for the superstition mill.

Bad luck superstitions were common and gave sailors a sense of control over their lives. Simply avoid the bad luck superstitions and you'd go home safely.

Salty Superstition is heeded religiously by some and scoffed at by others but it's a rare voyager who hasn't at least heard of some of these and many hold fast to the nautical lore and plan voyages accordingly "just in case". Even the scoffers have often adopted at least some of the salty lore, why take any chances, right?

Following are the events that can bring bad mojo to mariners.

~ Prior to Departure ~

• Red heads and flat footed people bring bad luck to a ship if they are encountered while you are going to the ship. You can erase the bad luck if you speak to them before they speak to you.
• Avoid clergymen and cross eyed people as you approach the ship as they are bringers of misfortune.
• Encountering an overturned washbasin on your way to departure brings misfortune.
• Renaming a boat (unless certain protocols are followed).
• A stone thrown over a departing vessel dooms the ship and ensures she will never return.
• Naming a boat with a word that ends in "A".
• If the bottle fails to break during the launching ceremony the vessel will be plagued with bad luck.

~ Bringers of Bad Fortune ~

• Beginning a voyage on Friday or on the 13th of the month.
• Seeing rats leaving the ship (If the rats want off... )
• Losing a bucket at sea.
• Sailing on a green boat.
• To have someone die aboard the ship.
• Killing an albatross or a dolphin.
• Sighting a cormorant or curlew.
• Bells heard at sea mean someone aboard will die.
• A shark following the ship. It is rumored that sharks can sense when someone is close to death.
• To cross an area where a ship has sunk.
• Saying the word drown while at sea can bring on the event.
• Whistling while underway can whistle up a storm.
• Crush egg shells before tossing them overboard so that witches can't use them as boats to get to your vessel.

~ More Salty Superstition ~

• Opening tin cans upside down can cause capsize as can a shoe left upside down on board.
• Flowers on board could later be used as a funeral wreath.
• Gulls at sea are said to hold the souls of sailors who were lost at sea. Killing a gull will bring bad luck.
• Looking back once your ship has set sail is bad luck says one Salty Superstition.
• Throwing stones into the sea will cause waves and great storms.
• Women on board anger the sea but not, apparently, if they're naked. Naked women calm the sea.
• It's bad luck to invite a priest aboard because they conduct funerals. (Apparently that's just asking for trouble).
• Black travelling bags bring misfortune to a sailor.
• Cutting your hair, beard or nails at sea is just asking for trouble.
• Boarding the ship with your Left Foot first starts the whole journey off on the wrong foot.
• Lighting a cigarette with a candle can spell doom to a sailor.
• Elmo's Fire surrounding a sailor's head means he'll die within a day.
• Wearing the color red can bring bad luck.
• Throwing the cat overboard is a definite no no and will bring the ship and the souls she carries to all kinds of disaster.
• If a sailor dies, his garments must not be worn by another sailor during that journey lest the ship and all who man her, be put in peril.
• A dog found near fishing tackle can bring bad luck.
• Don't pass a flag through the rungs of a ladder.
• Repairing a flag on the quarterdeck heralds misfortune.

Visitors to our Salty Superstition page may also be interested in the following pages

Good Luck Superstition