| Show HOODOOS OF THE NAVY Some Peculiar and Picturesque Sea Superstitions The most picturesque superstition of the seas are those which govern a modern mod-ern manofwar Every old salt In the navy believes in hoodoos and spells which may work all sorts of evils on his ship and must be carefully guarded against The powers of a ships hoodoos commence com-mence before the ship has entered the water It is a generally accepted superstition super-stition that if the first blow which is struck the keel brings sparks the ship is destined to suffer from a raking fire from the enemy The oldtime practice of stealing apiece a-piece of wood and impedding it in the prow for good luck is of course impossible im-possible in the case of steel ships though it is considered lucky to have a piece of stolen wood on board Another old superstition is satisfied by placing a silver coin in some crevice of the fighting top of the mainmast or some place below decks where It touches the steel mast Originally it was a very common custom to imbed a silver coin and preferably a Spanish coin in the wooden steps near the mast Figureheads have been in high favor with sailors from remote antiquity Originally they were carved to represent repre-sent some god or saint Even today a sailor would hesitate to sail on an ironclad iron-clad without such protection The ceremony of launching a ship is merely a concession to an old superstition super-stition The various formalities of ship christening have been followed with little variation for centuries In the early days of shipbuilding it was the custom for the captain and crew to eat their first meal stowed away in the mold loft Their meal invariably In-variably consisted of eggs and sulphur From this custom has come the present I practice of providing cakes and wine for the crew And the old libation which the priests used to pour over the prow of the ship as she slipped Intonhe water has been replaced by the breaking break-ing of a bottle of champagne The modern manofwar Cashes into the water with flags waving from every masthead In order to gratify this old superstition it has been necessary neces-sary to expend hundreds of dollars for the christening of a single ship But no one begrudges this extravagance In a way it is necessary The good or ill luck of certain days is still a belief among sailors Friday Is a day of illomen and Sunday Is usually a lucky day The superstition about women Is a relic of the old belief in witchcraft It is thought that a woman by throwing sand In the air on shipboard can produce pro-duce violent storms Not many years ago some women who traveled on English Eng-lish warships were tortured during a storm to make them quiet the waves These barbaric beliefs however are partially compensated by the superstition supersti-tion which sailors have held for centuries cen-turies that beautiful children bring a blessing to a ship The Neck was a handsome boy with golden curls It is said that he is always accompanied by a black lamb and carries with him a golden harp Our old salts have especial es-pecial confidence in a ship which Is christened by a child The average sailor is superstitious about the ringing of the ships bells In olden times the bells were blessed before be-fore they were used At present if a mistake Is make in striking the hour ± s the sailors Insist that the bells at i nee T be struck backward to break the spell And if by any chance the wind should catch the bells and swing them all the way around or if they should strtko nine bells it is believed that it will be the last of that ship All good warships go to the shores of Fiddlers Green as a final resting place Just where this mythical harbor Is situated no geographer has yet decided de-cided It Is in every way the antithesis antithe-sis of Davy Jones locker A warship war-ship which goes down with her Hags flying as occurred several times during the civil war goes to Fiddlers Green The tattooing habit Is of course very common In the navy It Is believed that an arm or a leg decorated with the design de-sign of a gun or a sword or some such design will never be lost in battle New York World |
