Show names that are hoodoos I 1 one should be so bold as to char act crize the superstitious sailor as sll ly he would at once declare that there is sufficient reason for his belief and would proceed to prove that war ves sels named after stinging and venom ous things have been unlucky and that the country should not be so in different to the men who follow a 1 fe on the ocean wave as to orgin ize a mosquito fleet tl at snake is regarded as an un fortunate foit name for a vessel is shown 1 the fact thit two of that name haie been lost one in and the other in 1847 but no vessel bearing that name is khoan to exist ro v serpent which is only a substitute name for snake is an unlucky one also for the one wrecked in 1892 was the fourth anti h war vessel of that to meet the same fate iper la been an unlucky name in the br t ish navy the arst one was in 1780 but the adm ralty would not swerve and so 1 ept the name on the list each vessel meeting its doom and the fourth was lost only recently the french navy has also been un lucky with vessels so named the viper used in the british service after she became a prize from the french a lost in 1793 the second was lost a year later the third in and the fourth vas decently lecent ly lost in a collis on off guerney the cobra another war ves el as lost recently at the same time as the viper among other vessels similarly named and which met fates other in battle are the rattle snake in 1781 the alligator in 1782 the crocodile in 1784 the adder in isis three lizards dragons and one bi lisk all of these were of the british navy the list could be made larger by ting the records of other navies the horsemen who ere so fond of naming the r vessels against the laws of iper and using hideous heads of dragons and reptiles on their high brov s were less unfortunate and these did not meet with frequent disasters they d d have a belief however that it wa and a sacrilege to elect su h a name as did lord dunraven Dun raven for his first yacht to challenge for the cup the daiki r e and this bel et was strengthened when she was suni by the satan ta the second challenger with tl e same name gave trouble and she was brol en up after only a short existence nat league journal |