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Nautical Folklore: Difference between revisions
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There are a few fairly good compendiums of nautical folklore. Two of them include [http://www.amazon.com/Folklore-Sea-Maritime-Horace-Beck/dp/0913372366/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1284181338&sr=8-1 Folklore and the Sea] by Horace Beck and [http://www.amazon.com/Seafaring-Lore-Legend-Peter-Jeans/dp/0071486569/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1284181497&sr=1-1 Seafaring Lore and Legend] by Peter Jeans. By fortunate coincidence the photo of Horace Beck looks ''exactly'' like the sort of [[Father Neptune]] that would be [[The Storyteller|telling these stories]].
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* [[Blood Magic]]: In some parts of the West Indies, at least until recently, it was common to use animal blood to christen a fishing boat. Most of the Western World however is satisfied with Champagne.
* [[Born Unlucky]]: If the bottle fails to break during the christening of a ship.
** Case in point—the ''Costa Concordia'' which struck a reef and capsized in shallow water on 13 January 2012. Allegedly, the Champagne bottle didn't break at its christening in 2006.
* [[Cats Are Magic]]: Having a cat aboard was thought of as bad luck, or good luck, [[Depending on the Writer|depending on whom you ask]]. Also, in some Caribbean myths, [[The Fair Folk|mer-people]] can transform into cats.
* [[Do Not Taunt Cthulhu]]: Numerous variations. Don't set out on Friday. Frey is in charge of the
** Do not take a murderer, a debtor or a [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|woman]] aboard: It's bad luck. Don't build a ship out of black walnut, either. No one is sure why not. Just don't.
** Also don't rename a ship. And never name a ship after a vessel that had bad luck (which is why nobody names their ship ''Titanic'').
*** Heck, just stay on shore.
* [[Due to the Dead]]: US Midshipmen place coins in the grave of John Paul Jones. Presumably he will reward them with a due share of [[Badass]]ery.
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* [[Eldritch Abomination]]: The whole ocean, just to start with.
* [[Ethnic Magician]]: supposedly all Finns are Wizards.
* [[Hubris]]: Do not give a merchantman a grandiose name. That is [[Tempting Fate]]. Passenger liners and clipper ships were often an exception to this, having names like ''Lightning'', or even ''Sovereign of the Seas''. Though the clipper that lasted longest was just named ''Cutty Sark'' (Which means short skirt because of a Scottish legend that one man who was being chased by witches noticed one of them wearing a "cutty sark" [[Male Gaze|and...]]) rather then something grandiose.
** Executives for the White Star Line said of the ''Titanic'' that [[Blasphemous Boast|God Himself could not sink the ship]]. In ''[[Titanic]]'', Cal Hockley (Billy Zane) parrots the company line before boarding.
** The executives of the White Star Line seemed to learn their lesson after the ''Titanic'' sank. The ''Titanic'' was the second ship of four planned ships in the ''Olympic''-class. The third ship was scheduled to be christened the ''Gigantic'', but was renamed the ''Britannic''. (The ''Olympic'' had collided with a Royal Navy cruiser in 1911.) The renaming was for
** Warship names, on the other hand, invoke this; many were (and still are) given grandiose and ferocious-sounding names like ''Victory'', ''Warrior'', or even truly [[Tempting Fate|fate-tempting]] ones like ''Invincible'' and ''Indefatigable''.
*** To be fair, ''Sovereign of the Seas'' at least was less hubristic then it sounds. It refers only to the King of England's political claim over the navigation of the ocean (which ironically lapsed in theory just as it was becoming a reality in practice) or at least part of the ocean, and not to his claim of ability-already disproven by King Canute-to tell the ocean itself what to do. Arrogant enough but not as outrageous as it sounds.
*** The light cruiser ''HMS Neptune'', however, struck a mine in 1941. Apparently another sovereign of the sea was tired of the impudence.
* [[I Owe You My Life]]: According to one story a Mermaid was stranded on a beach and found by a kindly Scottish boatbuilder. She offered him a wish and his wish was that no boat he ever built would ever sink. According to the story, his descendants are still building boats and are still famed for their craftsmanship.
* [[Kraken and Leviathan]]
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* [[Flying Dutchman]]: And several other ghost ships.
* [[MacGuffin]]: Amongst seafaring cultures, it was common belief that a child born "in the caul" (that is, with the amniotic sac still attached and covering his/her head), [[Born Lucky|is lucky and cannot drown]]. In fact, these membranes were sometimes preserved and sold to sailors for a small fortune, because the sailors would carry them for luck and protection at sea. Now a [[Forgotten Trope]] in much of the world, as many times the amniotic sac is ruptured artificially by the doctor or midwife.
** Not quite forgotten - still a popular folklore in the South and among the homebirth crowd. Also has some justification in that a labor and birth with a nice squishy layer of water cushioning the contractions is usually
** The expression "born in the shirt" (about the same situation) is a general characteristic of a lucky person in Russia.
* [[Mer Tropes]]
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* [[Pirate Booty]]: Often with a [[Black Magic|curse]] on it, naturally enough.
* [[Red Sky, Take Warning]]
* [[Satan]]: Old Scratch considers the ocean as sort of his private game preserve. He chiefly wants wicked sailors, but if he accidentally catches a good one, he's not gonna complain is he?
** At one time the devil decided to go on a pleasant fishing trip for mortal souls, but St. Elmo struck his infernal boat and sank it. And that is why we have St. Elmo's Fire.
* [[Sea Monster]]
* [[Selkies and Wereseals]]
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:Tropes At Sea]]
[[Category:
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[[Category:Myth, Legend and Folklore]]
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