With the crew clustered on the foredeck, the fishing schooner Henry Ford buries her lee rail. (Photo: Morris Rosenfeld)
the next trip. A shark following a ship at sea struction of Sodom and Gomorrah; 31 was considered a particularly bad omen if December when Judas putatively hanged someone was sick on board. himself after his betrayal of Jesus. Fishing Superstitions related to health were com- on this day increased the likelihood of snagmon among fishermen. A potato in a pocket ging the body of a corpse wrapped in sailprevented rheumatism; a nutmeg cured cloth from the deep. Another fateful date scrofulous, an infectious disease of lymph was Candlemas, the Christian festival that glands that was commonly seen on the commemorates the ritual purification of neck. For seasickness, one drank seawater Mary forty days after the birth of Jes us. and tea and ate a dry biscuit, pickles, and a Candlemas, 2 February, also has heathen lot of pork fat, etc. Ingesting the liquid roots as it is a cross-quarter day, halfWay from a barrel containing the collected livers between the winter solstice and the spring of codfish cured anemia. Drinking plenty equinox. Some early Christian European of" iron water" maintained health on board. culrures continued to celebrate this Roman ("Iron water" was rainwater in a barrel on solar holiday (Saturnalia). It is not clear the deck that also contain an old cannon why sailing on this day should be an ill ball. The rusting iron ball provided just the omen, other than that the weather was very right "dose of iron" to prevent all sorts of unkind at this time of year. 11 ailments.) One wore earrings to cure poor Combining faith and superstition, voeyesight, but if only one eye was bad, the tive ship models were given to churches to earring was placed on the ear opposite the be suspended alofr over the congregation weak eye. Lucky bones, lucky stones, and so that they might also receive God's blesscertain fruit pits acted as prophylactics, a ing. Many fishing communities set aside good thing to carry for pleasurable eve- one day for a blessing of the entire fleet by nings on shore. A freshly cut piece of pine a prelate. Certainly fishermen commonly rubbed into a fishhook or fish-dressing wore amulets and religious medals. Merwound enhanced healing. Counting the chant sailors made ships in bottles, but warts found on your body aloud decreased votive crucifix scenes in bottles were a their number. The crossing of fingers prevalent crafr of the fishermen. warded off bad luck, as did spitting in your Thus fishermen, so preoccupied with hat. As a last resort snapping a piece of dry observing their surroundings, saw omens wood might cause "a lucky break" for a in every sign, action, or inaction. The Comfisherman. 10 monwealth of Massachusetts was caught Sailing on specific days of the week had up in one superstition and provided a good certain significance. One shunned sailing luck symbol for its fishermen, the very ona Friday because it was thedayofChrist's object of the fisherman's quest, a fish. A crucifixion. An alternate pagan explanation venerable gilded codfish hangs in the State was that Friday was named after Frigga House ofMassachusetts. This wooden icon (Freya) the vengeful Norse goddess, wife of was first placed in the Old State House that Odin, who did harm to men who sailed on was the seat of government prior to the her day. Other days to avoid were the first Revolution. The so-called "Sacred Cod" day of April, the putative birthday of Cain moved with the changing halls of governand the day he slew Abel; the second Mon- ment in 1798 and again in 1895. It was day of August, the anniversary of the de- ceremoniously carried "by three represen-
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tatives in a procession escorted by the sergeant-at-arms. As they entered the new chamber, the venerable members of the legislature rose and gave a vigorous round of applause." 12 Superstition suggests that, as long as the emblem hangs there, the inhabitants of the Commonwealth will have good fortune. Many of the men who went down to the sea in ships believed these superstitions, but there are no data about how deeply they permeated broader society. Like l 9thcentury fishermen, most of us perform small acts based on superstition without realizing it. These riruals are not likely to affect an upcoming event, but they give us confidence and peace of mind. Therefore superstitions, a human invention, are a hoped-for protection from some of our very human vulnerabilities. J,
Dr. Norton is professor emeritus at the University of Connecticut Health Center and author of Joshua Barney: Hero of the Revolution and 1812 (Annapolis MD: Naval Institute Press, 2000). 1. Cooper, James Fenimore, The Red Rover (New York: Putnam, 1850) 2. TheHolyBible,Jonah 1:15 3. Merchanr, Roberr, Oral Hisrory inrerview recording by Virginia Jones (Mystic CT: Mystic Seaport Museum, G. W. Blunt White Library, 1 April 1978) 4. Dana, Richard Henry, Two Years Before the Mast (New York: D. Appleron and Co., 1899) 5. Loverre, Leland Pearson, Naval Customs, Traditions and Usage (Annapolis, MD: United Srates Naval Institute, 1939), 267. 6. ibid. , 49. 7. Beck, Horace, Folklore and the Sea (Middlerown CT: Wesleyan University Press, 1973) 8. Rappaport, Angelo. Superstitions of Sailors (London: Stanley Paul and Co., Ltd., 1928), 258. 9. op cit., Merchant. 10. Shay, Frank, An American Sailor's Treasury: Sea Songs, Chanteys, Legends, and Lore (New York: W.W. Norron Company, 1951), 302. 11. Rappaporr, 260. 12. Kurlansky, Mark. Cod: A Biography ofthe Fish that Changed the World (New York: Walker and Company, 1997), 79.
The gilded Sacred Cod in the State House of Massachusetts (Courtesy of the Massachusetts Archives)
SEA HISTORff 10 I, SUMMER 2002