I had heard of crew dying of CO2 asphyxiation descending into banana filled holds - as with timber ships too. But then Ijust found this…
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Sailed with an ex-WWII submariner 2d Mate who, as far as we could tell, ate nothing but bananas and microwave popcorn. He had the chandler bring him 40 lbs of bananas every (10-day) trip. He hung the bananas and his voyage paperwork from a web of lines he had strung across the overhead.
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Bananas are OK if you aren’t fishing, but to this day any fishing boat skippers around here will not allow a banana aboard.
Renaming a boat can be done if the proper ceremony is observed, there are many variations but all involve rum.
The women on board thing was likely not all that farfetched, I can image an 18th century ship stuck in the doldrums with a bunch of horny sailors getting more and more out of hand. OTOH rumor has it the Royal Navy ships back then could host more than one seagoing hooker, so maybe they decided to forget that one!
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ok, this one I can get behind… I swear to God, I had a cook that would make them every other day if we let her. What’s the background on the superstition though? Any idea, or was it just a Captain like me that despises them and said they’re bad luck?
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Cornish hens AKA storm chickens
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Women were onboard British Royal Navy ships during the 18th century and even the very early 19th century.
At reveille the bosun’s mates went through the mess decks and would cry out “show a leg” to check that the occupant of the hammock was female and could stay asleep.
The expression “son of a gun” comes from those times as the mess table was between the guns and some children were born there,
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For whatever reason, some guys are touchy about never washing their coffee mug. I think it’s a Navy thing.
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Not just navy. I sailed with a couple who held that same policy. My second mate would fill up his wide-bottomed plastic coffee cup and set it on the deck next to his bunk. As soon as he woke up he’d start swilling cold nasty coffee. He claimed it’d help fortify his bitter demeanor.
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Oh man, the unwashed coffee mug! That’s a core memory right there. It’s funny how widespread that ‘no scrubbing’ rule is -I’ve seen that superstition hold strong on plenty of non-Navy ships too.
Nope, same here.
That was one of the many superstitions that the Norwegian seal hunters had as well.
Unfortunately for the boats from Ålesund and Brandal heading to the hunting grounds in Greenland Sea (aka “the western ice”) sailing day set by the regulating authorities were always a Friday in mid-March.
As a rule, the boats never left before the midnight bell. (and never turn to port at departure from the quay)
A true story:
One year departure was set for Friday 13th March!!
That same year there were a new skipper on one of the boat who wasn’t from Sunnmøre. (From Romsdal 
IIRC)
He bragged about not being superstitious and that he would sail on Friday as instructed, which he did.
They got to the hunting grounds safely and was the first boat to fill their quota.
As he departed he got on the MF radio to broadcast that he had just proven that their superstition was all wrong ha ha ha. 
That was the last anybody heard from him.
The boat disappeared on the way home, never to be found since.
You can draw your own conclusion about the wisdom of going against superstition.
PS: Here is a lot more about Norwegian superstitions at sea:
(In Norwegian)
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