Never Say P*g: The Book of Sailors' Superstitions

By R. Bruce Macdonald

The nautical reference book you never knew you needed: an encyclopedia of all superstitions maritime and marine, learn your A-B-Seas of sailors’ guiding magic and mythos—and why you should never stir your tea with a knife, lest you invite trouble and strife.

Ever wondered why the skipper gave you a hairy eyeball when you stepped aboard the ship with your left foot? Or why a brolly or a bumbershoot—for the newly seasoned sailor, an umbrella—will bring trouble aboard? Find out all this and more in The Book of Sailors' Superstitions, the never-seen-before collection of maritime superstitions ranging from the East Coast to the Great Lakes of Canada, the Inuit to the First Nations Peoples of the Pacific Northwest. From A: why killing an albatross is bad luck, but seeing one is good luck—to B: why bananas are so feared that some sailors only refer to them as “that curved yellow fruit”—to C: clapping aboard a ship will bring thunder—you’ll be fluent in sailing superstitions in no time!

From sailor and author R. Bruce Macdonald—who swears he didn’t know not to stir his tea with a knife—comes an indispensable guide to the ways in which we ward off bad luck at sea and attempt to keep ourselves safe by shaping fate through signs and symbols. The original “marine insurance” for sailors, superstitions offered a semblance of control amidst a dangerous and volatile life aboard, at the mercy of the weather, the crew, the ship—even pirates. Ultimately, this encyclopedia reveals that superstitions have always been with us to comfort, to charm and to ease fears. Learn them all as you sail the high seas!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Harbour Publishing
• Release date: May 7, 2022
• ISBN: 9781550179804

R. Bruce Macdonald

R. Bruce Macdonald is a writer, sailor and artist with a passion for Canadian history. Macdonald has logged over 100,000 nautical miles and, for many years, lived along the BC coast aboard North Star with his family. He is the author of North Star of Herschel Island (FriesenPress, 2012) and Sisters of the Ice (Lost Moose Books, 2021).

Book preview

A black ink etching on a deep blue background, depicting a large pig standing on an elarged compass, which is surrounded by long and coiling octopus tentacles. Text: R. Bruce Macdonald. Never Say Pig: The Book of Sailors' Superstitions. The title is stamped in gold foil, and the word Pig is censored with an asterisk in place of the letter I. The subtitle appears over a banner that wraps around the compass.

Never Say P*g

Never Say P*g

The Book of Sailors’ Superstitions

R. Bruce Macdonald

Harbour Publishing

Copyright © 2022 R. Bruce Macdonald

Illustrations on pages 16, 74, 86, 102, 110, 124, 153 © R. Bruce Macdonald

1 2 3 4 5 — 26 25 24 23 22

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without prior permission of the publisher or, in the case of photocopying or other reprographic copying, a licence from Access Copyright, www.accesscopyright.ca, 1-800-893-5777, [e-mail].

Harbour Publishing Co. Ltd.

P.O. Box 219, Madeira Park, BC, V0N 2H0

www.harbourpublishing.com

Edited by Martin Llewellyn

Text design by Libris Simas Ferraz / Onça Publishing

Printed and bound in Canada

Printed on 100% recycled paper

Supported by the Government of Canada Supported by the Canada Council of the Arts Supported by the Province of British Columbia through the British Columbia Arts Council

Harbour Publishing acknowledges the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, the Government of Canada, and the Province of British Columbia through the BC Arts Council.

Title: Never say p*g : the book of sailors’ superstitions / R. Bruce Macdonald.

Other titles: Book of sailors’ superstitions

Names: Macdonald, R. Bruce, 1962- author.

Description: Includes bibliographical references.

Identifiers: Canadiana (print) 20210394803 | Canadiana (ebook) 20210394854 | ISBN 9781550179798 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781550179804 (EPUB)

Subjects: LCSH: Sailors—Folklore. | LCSH: Seafaring life—Folklore. | LCSH: Sailing—Folklore. | LCSH: Superstition.

Classification: LCC GR910 .M33 2022 | DDC 390/.43875—dc23

Dedicated to Captain Richard Birchall, STV Pathfinder 1978–83, who taught me to never stir with a knife.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Acknowledgements

A

Adaro; Albatross; Aran Sweater; Ash Tree

B

Backstay; Bags of Wind; Bait; Ballast; Bananas; Banned Words; Baptising; Basket; Basin; Bathing; Bees; Bells; Bible; Birds; Birth; Black Socks; Black Valise; Black Walnut; Blasphemy; Blessing of the Fleet; Blood; Blue; Bluebirds; Blue Cravat; Bluenose; Boat Delivery; Boots; Bowls; Brandy; Bread; Bread Upside Down; Brooms; Brothers; Bucket

C

Candle; Cans; Cats; Caul; Children; Christening; Christmas; Clapping; Clergy; Coal; Coins; Coins on Fishing Boats; Coins under the Mast; Cold Iron; Collar-touching; Coral; Cramp Rings; Crew Change; Cross; Cross-eyed; Crow; Cutty Sark

D

Davy Jones; Davy Jones’s Locker; Death Aboard; Debt; Denaming / Renaming a Boat; Destination; Dew; Dogwood; Dolphin; Don’t Look Back; Drake’s Drum; Dreams; Drinking; Drown; Drowning

E

Earrings; Egg; Eggshells; Evil Eye

F

Farewell; Fata Morgana; Feet; Fiddler’s Green; Figurehead; Fish; Fish Hook; Fish Scales; Fishing; Fishing Nets; Fishing Rod; Flag; Flogging; Flowers; Fly; Fruitwood

G

Garlic; Ghosts; Ghost Dog; Ghostly Sailor; Ghost Ship; Glasses; Goat; Good Luck Charms; Greasy Luck; Green

H

Hair; Harpy; Harrison Lake; Hats; Hat Overboard; Hatch; Hawseholes; Holy Water; Horseshoe; Hot Cross Bun

I

Inuit

J

Jenny Haniver; Jonah

K

Klabautermann; Kelpie; Kingfisher; Knife; Kraken

L

Ladder; Lady’s Tree; Launch Water; Launching; Lawyer; Letter O; Leviathan; Lights; Line Crossing

M

Manta Rays; Mermaids and Mermen; Michigan Mitten; Mishibijiw / Mishipeshu; Mittens; Moon; Moonlight; Moon Line; Mop; Mugs

N

Nails; Narwhal; Non-Sailing Days; Noose; North Star; Nudity

O

Oak; Oil; Orca; Oyster Dredging

P

Painter; Patron Saints & Deities; Peridot; Personal Grooming; Pig; Pineapple; Pins; Plants; Playing Cards; Pointing; Pom-pom; Pouring from a Bottle; Prostitute; Puck

Q

Qalupalik

R

Rabbit; Rainbow; Rats; Redhead; Red Ribbon; Red Sky; Remora; Rescuing; Right Foot; Rings; Rooster; Rope Circle; Rowan Tree; Runes

S

Salmon; Salt; Salting In; Salutes; Saluting the Quarterdeck; Scratching the Mast; Seabirds; Sea Chest; Seahorse; Seas All; Sedna; Selkies; Sewing; Shark; Shavings; Ships in Bottles; Shipbuilding; Shoes; Shrouds; Sirens; Snakes; Sneezing; Socks; South Bay Bessie; Sou’wester; Speaking; Spiders; Spitting; Starboard Side; Stars; Steering; Stirring; Stolen; Stone; Stones; Sulphur; Sun; Swallows and Curlews; Swearing; Sweeping

T

Tailor / Dressmaker; Tattoos; Third Vessel; Thirteen; Thread; Toasting; Touch Wood; Towing; Traveller’s Tree; Turf; Turtles

U

Umbrellas; Unlucky Ship

W

Walking Sticks; Walnut Wood; Waterspouts; Waves; Webbed Feet; Wedding Ring; Whale’s Breath; Wheel; Whistling; Wind; Wind Knots; Windog; Windshield Wipers; Wine; Women; Words; Wren

Endnotes

References

A black and white illustration of a lighthouse painted with a swirl. There are trees at the bottom and clouds behind.

Introduction

When I was a young man, I was hired on as part of the crew of a tall ship. I came aboard with the common land superstitions that I had never really given much thought to, such as not walking under a ladder, stepping on a crack, or letting a black cat cross my path. I was soon introduced to the world of nautical superstitions that would change my life.

Early on in the voyage I was preparing a cup of tea with the most feared and revered person aboard—the captain. We each poured a dollop of canned milk into our steaming mugs. I picked up a knife and went to stir mine when—in a trice—he clamped his calloused fist around my wrist, with a grip that could crush walnuts, and then leaned in to speak close to my ear. With a voice that could be heard throughout the ship he hollered, Stir with a knife—trouble and strife. Are you trying to jinx the whole voyage? He stormed out of the galley and I did my best to avoid him, as well as all the disparaging looks I received from the senior crew for the rest of the day.

Later that season, we were out in a storm where the wind increased daily, and the waves built to the size of houses. The gale tore out sails and we even lost one sail overboard. Day after day we tried beating our way into it making little or no progress. On the third morning, as the sun rose behind dark scudding clouds, a horrified cry came from up forward. Our figurehead—which carried the soul of the ship and something that we all felt kept us safe—had been ripped from the bow overnight. A jagged metal stump was all that remained.

The captain called all hands and we lined up in front of him trying to steady our weary bones by clapping onto the shrouds or pin rails. There’s a Jonah on this ship and I mean to find it! he cried out and then stared at each of us. For a moment, each crew member wondered if his name would be called out, and then he would no doubt be thrown overboard with a Jonah’s lift. Instead, the captain left us standing on deck and went below. We could hear him rummaging around emptying lockers and duffle bags and then, in a booming voice, he announced, "Aha,