Ship Bells and Haircuts: 10 Nautical Superstitions

Sailors are a superstitious lot, and who can blame them? Even in our modern day of GPS and satellite imagery, you can still set sail and never be heard from again, as shown in the case of the British yacht Cheeki Rafiki. If disallowing haircuts on board will help ensure your safe return from Neptune's kingdom, why risk it? (Hair and fingernails were offerings to Proserpina, Queen of the Underworld. Neptune could get jealous!)

Here are ten more superstitions from the briny deep:

1. Ship bells will ring even after the ship is sunk. The bell is believed to hold the soul of the ship, and they are rumored to ring even when resting in their watery graves. The bell of a ship is so important to nautical culture that when shipwrecks are discovered, the bell is often the first thing recovered from the vessel even if it means leaving other, more historically valuable artifacts behind.

2. Killing an albatross is bad luck, as anyone who has read "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" can tell you. Albatrosses and seagulls were believed to contain the souls of sailors lost at sea.

3. Changing the name of a vessel is very bad luck! Apparently, every ship or boat is known by name to the gods of the deep thanks to the naming ritual (think of the breaking of the bottle on the bow). If you own a boat and find yourself dealing with a name that is a bad pun or perhaps very inappropriate (such as taking your family on an outing with a boat that was previously owned by a swinging bachelor), you have to go through an elaborate ritual to remove the old name from the "Ledger of the Deep", which is incredibly detailed. They you have a new naming ceremony and all should be well between you and Neptune... or Poseidon if you like. Just how important are these ceremonies? Well, one very historic ship never had a naming ceremony. You might have heard of her; she's known as Titanic.

4. Whistling was another way to court disaster. By whistling, you were believed to be creating your own wind, thereby insulting the wind itself. In the days of sailing ships, you might not be able to get the wind you need. In any age of sea travel, you may find more wind than you want and be tossed about in rough, if not deadly, seas. Also, whistles were used to convey general messages to the crew, such as to call them to meetings. If your whistling caused your shipmates to drop what they were doing or to get up from a well-deserved rest and muster for a meeting that wasn't happening, you could find yourself having a very unpleasant rest of the trip!

5. Are you a fan of "Deadliest Catch"? Then you know that some of the captains won't set sail on a Friday. This is because Christ was allegedly crucified on a Friday. According to urban legend, the Royal Navy attempted to put an end to this superstition by commissioning a ship named HMS Friday. Her keel was laid on a Friday, she was launched on a Friday, and set out on her maiden voyage on a Friday. She was never heard from again. It could just be a myth, but would you risk it?

6. Another one seen on "Deadliest Catch" is when one of the captains threw a cameraman's bags off the boat and onto the dock as soon as the man brought them aboard. You see, the bags were black. Black bags are unlucky because black is not only the color of death, but also representative of the depth of the ocean.

7. Black cats aboard a ship, however, enjoy the opposite status of the black bags. One reasoning for this is that rats aboard the ship would not be able to see a black cat so easily.

8. Dolphins are considered very good luck. Not only are they said to have rescued sailors who have fallen overboard, but their presence indicates a lack of sharks. Of course, to bring harm to a dolphin is very bad luck.

9. St. Elmo's Fire can be good luck or bad luck, depending on where you saw it. If it is seen at the top of a mast, it means the worst of a storm is over. Seen on the deck or on a man's head, it meant that death was near.

10. No bananas! Bananas on board were thought to bring bad luck. There are many reasons behind this, but among the most popular are:

• Deadly spiders tended to live in banana bunches, so crews hauling bananas were more likely to be bitten and die.
• Bananas in the hold would start to ferment and give off toxic gases, killing anyone who went below.
• Once picked, bananas go bad fast, so ships hauling them had to move at great speed. This meant that trying to fish to get good meat aboard wasn't going to happen.

Whatever the case, the fact stands that during the height of the trading between Spain and the Caribbean, most cases of ships that vanished without a trace were carrying loads of bananas.

Nautical culture is full of curious superstitions and rich customs and traditions that transcend national borders. Many people around the world feel a connection with these traditions and find a certain peace in decorating their homes with nautical and beach themed designs. If your heart lies somewhere out there among the waves, contact us and let your decorating dreams set sail!