SEA SUPERSTITIONS.

Hokitika Guardian, 19 April 1924, Page 4

SEA SUPERSTITIONS.

The sailor inherits many strange superstitious from the distant past and even in these modern days of steel and steam his outlook is still influenced by them, writes F. H. in the “Daily Mail.”

From time immemorial sea birds have been regarded by sailors as sacrosanct. Woe betide the man who slays one of “Mother Carey’s Chickens”! The fate of the man who shot the albatross is well known.

But there are other superstitious eoneerniijg sea birds. Many sailors, for instance, believe that they are the wandering souls of evil-doers condemned to continual movement. Some believe they carry the souls of masters of lost ships, plaintively crying in the still watches of tlio night until their bodies shall be carried to the land for Christian burial.

The small grey gulls which fly swiftly up and clown the Bosphorus, near the Golden Horn, skimming close to the surface of the water without over seeming to alight, are said by sailors to be the souls of wicked captains of ships sentenced to wander thus till the Day of Judgment. Rats foretell disaster by leaving an ill-fated ship just before she sails. They have often been seen swarming along the hawsers securing the ship to the wharf.

The possession of an infant’s caul is regarded as a certain protection against drowning, and it is a fact of melancholy significance that during the late war the price of cauls went up considerably. At table if a glass tumbler is inadvertently struck, „ a sailor will instinctively put out his hand to prevent it from ringing out and say “Stive a drowning man.”

Cats arc lucky, especially black ones, but dogs are uoL always regarded with favour. Scots fishermen say that to mention the name ol a dog will bring on a storm, and that tlio wind will come from the direct ion in whion a dog points bis nose when he howls.

Icelandic fishermen regard it as unlucky to have a dog near their nets ot boats, while in Cornwall storms are foretold by the appearance of a spectral dog.