Wilma Lee
is back at the dock in Ocracoke after nearly two months in the boat
yard. Last Friday Tom Pahl, Bill Monticone, my son Emmet and I defied
the time-honored sailors' superstition against beginning a voyage on
Friday and made the 45-mile trip down the sound from Wanchese.
Sundae
(my adoring wife) said, “What!? You're going to leave on Friday?”
Well, leaving on a Friday might have been tempting fate, but waiting
until Saturday would have guaranteed a miserable slog to weather in
much colder temperatures and a gale on the nose. Been there. Done
that. No thanks!
Years ago, a friend
of mine who was a captain of large merchant vessels told me he was
leaving in the morning for New York to take command of a container
ship bound for Holland. Although the ship would be loaded and ready
to depart at noon on Friday, they were not departing until 12:01
Saturday morning. I told him I was surprised that a large shipping
company would be superstitious enough to waste time and money like
that. “Oh the company's not superstitious,” he explained, “but
the seamen are. If word got out that we planned to depart on a
Friday, half the crew would jump ship!”
According
to an old legend, the British Admiralty once became so annoyed at
Jack Tar's reluctance to sail on a Friday that they set out to show
how silly the superstition was. They commissioned a warship on a
Friday, laid the keel on a Friday, Christened it “H.M.S.
Friday” launched it on a
Friday and sent it to sea on a Friday under the command of a Capt.
Friday. Needless to say, she was neither seen nor heard from ever
again!
Of course I don't
believe all that bilge. I'm not superstitious. But before we
reinstalled the mast I did place a Sacajawea dollar coin under the
base of it, heads up. I couldn't believe the folks that last stepped
the mast had overlooked that formality. Not superstitious mind you
but hey, no point in being a damn fool about it!
1 comment:
It's nice to hear that things are proceeding along there with you activities on Ocracoke Island and your sailboats. You were kind enough to allow me to have 1/2 a sailing lesson about a year an a half ago. It was the best part of my 60th birthday. I hope to come back again and have some more sailing lessons. I hope all goes well for you, your family and all related activities there on that nice little island. Jack O'Connor
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