Sailing the open ocean is a dangerous endeavor. Of course, when the weather is perfect, and the wind is at your back, riding along the waves can be exhilarating. But more often than not, the weather is poor, or the wind is wrong. Even worse, storms pop up suddenly, and the calm ocean turns into a scary series of endless deadly waves.

Throughout history, countless sailors have lost their lives in finicky and vicious seas. Even today, there are no real guarantees that tragedy won’t strike on the open ocean. So imagine how dangerous sailing was 100, 500, or 1,000 years ago!

By necessity and with little else to help assuage fears, sailors have clung to superstition to get by throughout history. Of course, all superstitions tend to be a little bit bizarre. The number 13 isn’t inherently unlucky. Black cats aren’t more dangerous than felines of any other color. But for whatever reason, when a superstition takes hold, it tends to captivate almost everyone around.

In the sailing world, those trends toward the superstitious have only been magnified because of how dangerous the job can be. Even today, sailors with all the modern technology and tools at their disposal still swear by ancient nautical customs and myths for good luck. In this list, we’ll go over the real stories behind ten of those fascinating and unique superstitions.

Related: 10 Times Old Superstitions Became Deadly

10 Red Sky at Night

Surely you’ve heard this phrase before, or a variation of it: “Red sky at night, sailor’s delight; red sky at morning, sailors take warning.” As the saying suggests, sailors seeing red skies off to the west at sunset was supposedly a good luck charm. But red skies to the east in the early morning at sunrise were said to portend doom.

The saying itself has been around for a very long time. None other than William Shakespeare mentions a variation of it in his narrative poem “Venus and Adonis.” Even the Bible references the so-called “red sky rule,” although it’s not in the context of sailing. But as it turns out, this superstition is actually very specifically and simply backed by science! Maybe those sailors of olden days really knew what they were getting at with this one.

When light has to pass through air particles, it gives off color. The more particles it has to pass through, the more it starts to appear red. Blue light gets scattered much more easily than hues of yellows, oranges, and reds. When the reds are seen in the atmosphere, they correspond with a high-pressure weather system.

High-pressure systems are good for sailors, as they often lead to light winds and calm weather. And since air currents around the globe generally blow west to east, the location of those red skies matters greatly. Thus, “red sky at night” means a high-pressure system will likely come in from the west, and the next day or two will bring good weather. “Red sky at morning” means a high-pressure system has just come through, and low-pressure storms may soon be coming.^[1]

9 The Name Game

Perhaps more than anything else, there is one thing you must never do to a ship: rename it. For centuries, sailors across the globe have felt that renaming a ship opens it up to bad luck and future misfortune. It’s not just a random rule, either.

Long, long ago, sailors believed all ships’ names were kept in a book known as the “Ledger of the Deep.” That book was said to be edited and managed by Poseidon, the Ancient Greek God of the sea (or Neptune, we suppose, if you prefer the Roman take on it). Anyway, Poseidon was said to track and protect every ship on the water. The “Ledger” allowed him to follow and carefully account for every ship and every crew until they were back in port.

However, if you changed a boat’s name, it was seen as being disrespectful to the higher power. Who would really choose to go against Poseidon, after all? And then captains who were forced by some legal or social requirement to even think about a name change had to go through a meandering and complicated ceremonial process to square things up with Poseidon. Things can never be simple and easy on the high seas, can they?

Interestingly, it appears the “no name change” rule has been in popular worldwide use for a very long time. In the 1880s, Robert Louis Stevenson wrote of the custom in Treasure Island. “What a ship was christened, so let her stay,” he famously exclaimed. Even long before that, sailors working on the ocean during the “Golden Age of Sail” beginning in the early 16th century documented the same requirement. Now, historians are almost certain that myth extends back even further into ancient times.^[2]

8 Albatross Antics

There aren’t many birds way out in the open ocean, but at least one tends to be a common sight: the albatross. Historical sailors took early notice of the albatross’s grateful flight patterns and smooth gliding in the air. Their free-flying ways led sailors to think the birds were somehow animal incarnations of long-lost wandering spirits.

Over the centuries, that myth hardened into a tall tale: Every albatross represented the ghost of a dead sailor. Seeing one was thought to be good luck. These long-dead sailors were supposedly watching over the ship and ensuring its safe passage.

It makes logical sense that sailors always refused to kill albatrosses whenever they would land on ships then. But the custom actually has its history in literature too! In 1834, the poet and author Samuel Taylor Coleridge solidified the albatross habit for all time in “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.”

In the poem, Coleridge claimed the eponymous mariner shot and killed an albatross at sea. Then, their ship ran out of fresh drinking water and ran aground on a spit of land. The crew was then attacked while the ship was stuck, with nearly all of them dying in the tragedy. Sailors believed Coleridge based that poem on an actual 1719 incident in which a sailor killed an albatross before his ship experienced terrible luck. And thus, the point was made crystal clear: never kill an albatross while out on the open ocean.^[3]

7 All Ears!

It’s a common stereotype of pirates that they wore gold hoop earrings. The gold ring is as well-known a part of the pirate get-up as an eye patch and a peg leg. But as it turns out, gold earrings actually were very common among pirates ages ago. And there was a good reason for them, too—or at least, those swashbucklers sure thought so at the time.

Centuries ago, pirates believed gold jewelry cured a number of ocean-going issues, including scurvy, blindness, and seasickness. Some even said the gold supposedly magically kept pirates from falling overboard and drowning.

Pirates weren’t alone in thinking gold had magical powers, either. In the Middle Ages, medical pioneers all over Europe thought gold itself was a magical cure. They prescribed gold for a host of common and not-so-common ailments. That included ordering patients to ingest little bits of gold to cure everything from leprosy to heart disease. Some doctors even had patients drink liquid gold as a way to slow down the aging process. Vanity isn’t unique to the modern era, it would seem.

Of course, we now know gold doesn’t do any of that stuff. And even back then, they were starting to get the hint. By the early 18th century, pirates (and others) using gold for any medicinal purpose were very much on the way out. But there was still a practical reason to keep the earrings around: funeral costs.

Should a sailor die at sea, the gold plucked from his ear was often used to pay for funeral expenses. Some pirates even engraved their hometowns into the earrings. Should the worst happen, their bodies could theoretically be sent home to worried family members seeking closure.^[4]

6 The Caul of a Newborn

Fair warning: this next superstition is a little bit gross. And a little bit rare! If you’ve never heard the term “caul” before, well, here you go: Newborn babies are (sometimes) born with part of their birth membrane called a “caul” shrouding their face. Many babies don’t have the membrane upon birth, though. And it’s not like there’s anything wrong with those that do. Doctors simply remove the piece of membrane, and the baby goes back to momma.

But old-school sailors held that caul in very high regard. It was thought that any baby born with a caul upon its face was to be guaranteed good luck for the rest of its life. Thus, any caul available in various seaports became a highly desirable good luck charm to have near a ship! Strange, right?

Sailors believed a newborn’s caul on board meant their vessel would be protected from storms and bad shipwrecks. Never had a sailor gone overboard and drowned with a caul on the ship, legend held. Cauls became such important parts of sailing that captains would put ads in newspapers around seaside towns asking for them.

It’s not exactly clear how this custom would have arisen in the first place. Aside from the baby said to be born with good luck from the caul, how did it transfer over to the sea? We suppose it goes back to the extremely superstitious nature of sailors! Regardless of the caul’s crossover into ocean lore, this custom has been around for a long time. Historians have documented caul want-ads in seaside newspapers from as early as the mid-1600s.^[5]

5 Got a Loaf?

Interestingly, there are actually several sea-faring superstitions centered on baked bread. Who knew? For one, English sailors adhered to their nation’s custom of any bread baked on Good Friday being lucky. So, when Good Friday rolled around, sailors jammed bakeries to get a loaf or two (or three or four) for their voyage.

That bread was said to ensure safe passage across the sea. And just to be doubly sure about that, as a ship was leaving port, sailors would toss pieces of bread directly into the sea. That, legend claimed, helped guarantee good weather for the voyage ahead. Something tells us the seagulls in each port city didn’t mind that superstition one bit.

The English and their French frenemies also had a thing about upside-down bread on board boats. This legend actually began on land. In France, during the Middle Ages, bakers were supposedly forced to bake bread for executioners. Protesting the grisly gig, the French bakers were said to put “hatred” in the bread they made for the professional killers. But executioners obviously didn’t eat every loaf bakers made.

So, in the bakeries across France, breadmakers would turn executioner-made loaves upside down. Other customers thus knew which loaves they should avoid while buying bread. Soon, that upside-down habit extended to the sea. English sailors in the 16th century and beyond believed upside-down bread directly led to shipwrecks and strandings.^[6]

4 No Women, No Gingers

Sorry, women—and, uh, sorry, redheads of all genders. Historical customs dictated that women were not allowed on board a ship after it had set sail. Women on merchant ships and military crafts were supposedly guaranteed to bring the boats bad luck. Their mere presence was said to make the seas angry.

Plus, they were supposedly such a distraction to sailors that the maritime men were said to make bad navigational choices and weather decisions in the presence of the fairer sex. Actually, considering how touch-starved sailors would have been after months alone at sea, perhaps there really is something to that last part. But it’s absurd to blame shipwrecks on women, right?

It’s doubly ironic to note the no-women superstition if only because boats have (virtually) always been named after women. In ancient history, all ships were dedicated to goddesses. In more modern times, female figureheads were sculpted to the bow of boats. The presence of those goddess-like forms up front was thought to guarantee calm storms and easy seas. So how did sailors go from sculpted women being very good to real women being very bad? However they got there, that’s how it was for centuries.

And women weren’t the only ones left out of luck on the ocean. One bizarre superstition held that redheaded people were never meant to sail. People with red hair were sometimes banned from boarding boats. More commonly, sailors themselves who knew of the traditional myth would refuse to go close to them once on the ship.

And if a sailor did see a redheaded person—whether on board or in port before setting sail—the ocean-goer had to speak first before the innocent redhead could get a word in. If that happened, the sailor was said to have overridden whatever bad luck red hair would bring. It just makes us wonder one thing: What would they do with all the Irish sailors?^[7]

3 Broken Eggshells

If you thought sailors didn’t want women aboard their ships, you likely can’t even imagine how badly they tried to avoid witches. In one of the oldest sailing superstitions of them all, captains and their crews have been said to be dead-set on avoiding witchcraft while on board.

This one actually goes back all the way to the first century AD. During that era, Pliny the Elder noted how sailors were already breaking eggshells on board ships to keep witches away. The ancient world was rife with superstition, so maybe it’s not surprising to learn that. But what is interesting is how long that custom kept up.

By the Middle Ages, witches were said to be able to sail the high seas using just a hollowed-out eggshell as a boat. Those must have been some tiny witches, of course. But sailors (and land lovers) were horrified at the idea of witches having free reign to traipse all over the world’s waterways. So sailors began taking used-up eggshells and cracking them into little tiny pieces on board. If there were no eggshell shards fit for sailing, then no witches could come on board, commandeer one, and curse the boat, right?

This custom continued on well into the early 20th century, too! While these more recent sailors likely (um, hopefully) didn’t still think witches were sailing across the ocean in eggshells, the broken shell custom remained commonplace.

In 1936, the Scottish poet Elizabeth Fleming wrote about how important it was for sailors to crack eggshells into teeny, tiny pieces on board: “Oh, never leave your egg-shells unbroken in the cup; Think of us poor sailor-men and always smash them up, For witches come and find them and sail away to sea, And make a lot of misery for mariners like me.”^[8]

2 Cat’s Got Your Boat

We’ve learned by now that sailors spent much of their lives trying desperately to avoid things, from women to witches, redheads, albatrosses, and (some) red skies. But there was one thing they loved having on board: cats! Cats were said to be good luck for seagoing ships. For one, they served a very practical purpose.

For centuries, leaky wooden ships filled with all kinds of cargo were magnets for rat infestations down below deck. Having a cat (or two or three) on board helped solve those problems. As cats became loyal companions—or at least loyal rat killers—for sailors away at sea, they became extremely prized and valued for how much they helped solve rat issues.

In time, cat behavior became part of sailing lore. If a cat ever approached a sailor and stayed around him for a moment or two, that was said to bring the man good luck. But if the cat turned his back on a sailor, the feline was supposedly warning the man of bad luck ahead. To game this system a bit, sailors across the centuries were known to feed onboard cats very well. After all, with food in hand, those felines weren’t likely to turn their backs too often.

Some cat superstitions got downright crazy, though. Over the years, sailors imbued cats with nearly magical powers. Some felt felines controlled the weather. Others held that a ship would have bad luck for nine years if the vessel’s cat ever went overboard.

Still, other myths centered on the unpredictable nature of cat behavior. A cat’s sneeze while at sea meant rain was coming. Any frisky feline behavior meant there was to be a windy day ahead. And if a cat licked its fur for too long, hail was surely just hours away.

These superstitions are pretty crazy, of course. But today, vets wonder if those sailors were on to something. After all, cats have very good eyesight and hearing, and their senses across the board are significantly heightened compared to humans. Plus, cats have very sensitive inner ears that pick up on wind changes and pressure adjustments.

For that reason, vets believe cats read the weather far better than other animals. And thus, sailors observing cats for days on end at sea could have picked up on their ensuing behavioral changes!^[9]

1 Don’t Dare Whistle!

It turns out that “whistle while you work” is very much a dryland phenomenon. Whistling on board a ship is said to be a great (read: not great) way to tempt fate. Sailors believed whistling would alert the ocean’s gods to kick up storms. So, anyone whistling while out at sea was supposedly just asking for high winds and bad rain.

Some sailing outposts even held that the simple sound summoned Satan himself! Work was expected to be done in silence, or at the very least while chanting, calling out, or even singing work songs. Repetitive though it may be, singing “99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall” was said to tempt fate in a far less significant way than mindlessly whistling while on deck. Of course, that song’s endless refrain may wind up tempting sanity a bit, but that’s a separate issue.

Anyway, there actually seems to be a legitimate reason for the no-whistling superstition, too. Through history, ships have mostly been filled to the brim with crew members. Depending on the purpose of the voyage, men sleep in shifts while others work above deck. And in all cases, lookouts stay up in the crow’s nest or elsewhere, even at night, while other men rest down below.

Should something happen on deck, or a storm kicks up with little warning, it’s imperative the captain be able to use whistling as a means of quick communication. Nothing rouses sleepy sailors quite like a shrill whistle and a barked command, right? So no lowly crewmen ought to whistle their way through work lest they interrupt the captain from giving potentially life-saving orders.^[10]

There are many commonly used phrases in the English language that originated with sailors—some of which are rather obvious. For instance, “run a tight ship,” “plain sailing,” and “on an even keel” have clear maritime roots. But there are other idioms and phrases that are less obviously ship-related, usually because they don’t contain well-known nautical words. Here are 10 such phrases and their high seas origins.

Related: Top 10 Backstories For Popular Idioms

10 To Show One’s True Colors

“To show one’s true colors” means to reveal one’s true nature, which comes from the use of flags at sea. The word “colors” means “flags” in a military context, and ships would sometimes sail under false colors in the past in order to get closer to their enemy. Pirates often employed this tactic, but so did navy ships that were at war.

However, it was generally accepted that “a ship may not fire without showing her true colours,” as described in Mountague Bernard’s A Historical Account of the Neutrality of Great Britain During the American Civil War (1870). The earliest printed use of this phrase comes from Thomas Becon’s 1551 A Fruitful Treatise of Fasting, which says that the devil “setteth forth him selfe in his true colours.”

“To pass with flying colors”—meaning to have done extremely well—has a similar origin story. After winning a battle, ships would fly their regimental flag to signal their victory. The losing ships would have to strike their colors, meaning lowering their flags.^[1]

9 Toe the Line

The exact origin of the phrase “toe the line”—meaning to conform to a standard or to quite literally form a line—is hazy, but it can be traced back to the Royal Navy and British Army. Which organization started using the phrase first is unknown. However, it first appeared in printed format in 1738 in John Railton’s The Army Regulator to describe troops being called into a neat formation.

In a naval context, the first printed mention of the phrase is from Captain Basil Hall in 1831, with a description of a crew on the deck being “ranged in a line, each with his toes at the edge of a plank,” so that they could be scolded in what were “technically called ‘toe-the-line’ matches.” Disobedient sailors could also be punished by being forced to stand still on the line of a plank for hours at a time.^[2]

8 Pipe Down

With the sounds of the wind and the waves, being aboard a ship can be very loud, so common orders are given with the whistle of a pipe. One such command is “pipe down,” which signals that the crew is dismissed, after which the ship would usually get much quieter. As a result, saying the words “pipe down” began to mean “be quiet.”

This command is noted in Leonard Gillespie’s Advice to Commanders and Officers (1798), which reports that “at four o’clock, P.M. the hammocks should regularly be piped down.” The words being spoken, rather than the instrument being played, occur in Herman Melville’s 1850 novel White-Jacket, which was partially based on his experiences in the United States Navy. “‘Pipe down!’ cried the Captain, and the crew slowly dispersed.”^[3]

7 By and Large

Used to mean “mostly” or “on the whole” in everyday speech, “by and large” is rooted in seafaring terminology. It was basically shorthand for “close-hauled and not close-hauled,” which refers to how a ship sails in the wind. “By” is “close-hauled” and means that the ship is sailing as directly as possible into the wind. “Large,” or “not close-hauled,” means that the wind is hitting the stern (or back) of the ship.

Essentially, describing a ship as sailing well by and large means that it can handle different wind directions. The earliest known printed reference to this phrase appears in Samuel Sturmy’s 1669 The Mariners Magazine. “Thus you see the ship handled in fair weather and foul, by and learge.”^[4]

6 Three Sheets to/in the Wind

In nautical terminology, sheets are ropes (or sometimes chains) that are attached to the sails and allow the crew to direct the ship. If the sheets come loose, then the ship can move in uncontrollable directions, looking much like a staggering drunk person who can’t walk in a straight line. Hence, describing someone as “three sheets to/in the wind” means that they are drunk.

The first printed use of this idiom can be found in Pierce Egan’s Real Life in London (1821): “Old Wax and Bristles is about three sheets in the wind.” Although nowadays the phrase is almost always “three”—and also favors “to” rather than “in”—it was used as a scale to measure drunkenness, with one sheet to/in the wind describing someone who was merely tipsy. This usage can be found in Catherine Ward’s The Fisher’s Daughter (1824). “Wolf replenished his glass at the request of Mr. Blust, who, instead of being one sheet in the wind, was likely to get to three before he took his departure.”^[5]

5 Hand over Fist

The idiom “hand over fist”—meaning to do something fast, often used in the context of making or losing money quickly—has a strong nautical background. However, it’s not certain that it originated aboard ships. It began as “hand over hand” in the mid-18th century and referred to the motion of a person’s hands as they were climbing or hauling in a length of rope. Rope is obviously not exclusive to ships, but it’s undeniably very familiar to sailors.

This phrase first appears in a 1736 letter written by Benjamin Cooke, where he describes a man using a rope to go down a well “hand over hand, as the Workmen call it.” In a naval context, the phrase is first mentioned in 1769, with William Falconer’s An Universal Dictionary of the Marine, which states that “a sailor is said to go aloft, hand-over-hand, when he ascends into the tops, &c. by a single rope.”

By at least the 1820s, the phrase had changed into “hand over fist,” as is seen in William Glascock’s 1826 The Naval Sketchbook, which describes the French “coming up with us, ‘hand over fist,’ in three divisions.” Around this same time, the phrase’s connotation with speed and money also developed. Seba Smith’s 1833 novel The Life and Writings of Major Jack Downing describes people who “clawed the money off of his table, hand over fist.”^[6]

4 Taken Aback

In naval terms, “aback” refers to the ship’s sails being pushed against the mast by the wind, and being “taken aback” describes this happening suddenly, either because of an abrupt change in the wind’s direction or because of the crew changing the ship’s course. Nowadays, landlubbers use “taken aback” to indicate general surprise.

The word “aback” can be traced to at least the late 17th century, with “I braced my topsails aback” appearing in a 1697 edition of the London Gazette, while “taken aback” appears in a 1755-56 edition of the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. “If they luff up, they will be taken aback, and run the hazard of being dismasted.” The broader use of the phrase filtered into the English language during the 1800s. For instance, Charles Dickens says he was “ever so taken aback” in his 1842 American Notes for General Circulation.^[7]

3 Dutch Courage

“Dutch courage” refers to drinking alcohol to gain confidence or courage and originates with the Royal Navy. During the Anglo-Dutch Wars of the 17th and 18th centuries, English sailors would use “Dutch” as an insult. “Dutch courage” leans into stereotypes of Dutch drunkenness—at the time, they were known for producing a spirit derived from juniper that was called genever (and later became gin).

Other idioms that use “Dutch” derisively include “going Dutch,” which means people paying for their own bill and plays on stereotypes of Dutch frugality, and “Dutch bargain,” which is a deal struck while drunk and carries similar connotations as “Dutch courage.”

The first printed allusion to the idea of the Dutch drinking to gain courage in battle can be traced back to a 1665 poem by Edmund Waller, which features the line, “The Dutch their Wine, and all their Brandy lose, / Dis-arm’d of that from which their Courage grows.” The exact phrase “Dutch courage” first appears in print in 1781 when Captain Decker wrote to the Amsterdam Gazette and reported, “It is very probable the Dutch sailors were drunk. Dutch courage has been long proverbial.”^[8]

2 Turn a Blind Eye

The idiom “turn a blind eye”—which means to willfully ignore something—is attributed to Royal Navy officer Horatio Nelson. During the 1801 Battle of Copenhagen, Admiral Hyde Parker feared that the British Navy was losing, so he signaled his second-in-command, Nelson (who was stationed on another ship), to retreat. However, Nelson wasn’t one to back down from a fight.

On being told of the signal, Nelson reportedly said, “I have only one eye–I have a right to be blind sometimes.” He then raised his telescope to his glass eye—his eye had been injured in a previous battle—to look toward the flagship and then declared, “I really do not see the signal!” This tale was first recounted in Robert Southey’s Life of Nelson, published in 1813, and may be little more than a myth, but regardless, it spawned the common phrase “turn a blind eye.” Incidentally, Nelson made the right call to continue fighting, as the Danes soon agreed to a truce.^[9]

1 Slush Fund

These days, a “slush fund” refers to money kept back to buy miscellaneous items, but it often has an illegal connotation. Politicians sometimes use slush funds to buy favor, silence, or information. Given the illicit nature of these transactions, this money is usually kept secret and separate from money used for legitimate purposes.

In the 18th century, slush was the word for “refuse grease and fat from cooking especially on shipboard.” Slush was used to make products such as candles, so the ship’s cook would store the fat in a barrel until the ship reached land and it could be sold. This money—known as a slush fund by at least the early 19th century—was supposed to go back to the crew because, as William McNally’s Evils and Abuses in the Naval and Merchant Service, Exposed (1839) explains, “the provision is weighed to the crew before being boiled, all that comes from it ought to be given to them, as it forms a component part of their ration.”

Unfortunately, the higher-ups aboard the ship would often not give this money to the crew and would instead buy frivolous items for their own cabins, such as cushions and rugs. The phrase had jumped from ship to land by the middle of the 19th century and quickly became associated with bribery and criminal purposes.^[10]

Something about life at sea seems to make people a little superstitious. It could be because sailors live at the mercy of the elements and follow any legend, trick, or myth that they feel might give them some extra protection. Maybe it’s because sailing is one of the world’s oldest trades. Or maybe it’s just the kind of person that life at sea attracts. Whatever the reason might be, many fascinating nautical stories have endured for centuries.

Related: 10 Times Old Superstitions Became Deadly

10 Jonahs

If you think that life at sea was open to almost anyone, you may have to think again. Sailors were pretty picky with who they allowed on board. Anyone considered bad luck could be called a “Jonah,” in reference to the biblical prophet who was swallowed by a giant fish and spit back out.

Women, redheads, priests, debtors, and murderers were all considered bad luck on a ship, although not allowing murderers was probably a good call. Sailors often had a strong superstition that women on a ship could distract the crew and anger the sea-gods. At least one time in the Middle Ages, a crew threw dozens of female passengers overboard when they entered a storm, although most of the men ended up dying in the wreck anyway.

But if a pregnant woman did make it onto a ship, a child born at sea would be considered good luck. Strangely (and conveniently for lonely sea dogs), naked women were also considered good luck. This is why many ships have carvings of nude women on the front of the boat as figureheads.

Priests were associated with funerals, which nervous sailors didn’t appreciate being reminded about. If you ran into a devilish redhead before you boarded a ship, you could potentially avoid their bad luck if you spoke to them before they spoke to you. ^[1]

9 Klabautermann

The idea of Klabautermann is a rare positive sailor legend. A Klabautermann is a helpful water sprite from Northern European folklore that takes the appearance of tiny sailors in yellow clothes. According to legend, these helpful little creatures could help fix the ship, rescue sailors thrown overboard, and play music. They are often depicted carrying a pipe and hammer, and the sound of their rumbling voices or the pounding of their tools could often be heard by sailors as the creatures explored the ship and fixed leaks.

Images of Klabautermann were often carved into ships as a good luck charm. If a sailor did catch a glimpse of one, it could mean that their ship was doomed to sink, but the Klabautermann could also be warning the crew of the danger. Occasionally, a Klabautermann would move items around or play tricks on sailors, but they were generally considered helpful creatures. If you were an especially nice captain, Klabautermann might even follow you from one ship to another in order to help and protect you.^[2]

8 No Bananas

One of the strangest enduring pieces of nautical lore is the taboo of the banana. The fear of bananas on ships dates back to the 1700s in the Caribbean. The most likely origin theory is probably that banana ships had to travel very fast to prevent spoiling, which was not conducive to fishing or safety. Bananas may float to the top of shipwrecks, leading observers to associate the fruit with the tragedy. Sailors were also at risk of slipping on the peels and injuring themselves.

The banana myth might actually have some scientific backing. It has been theorized that the ripening fruit could have released ethylene gas, which may have sickened the crew and damaged the wooden hulls of the ships. Poisonous spiders and snakes have also been known to hitch a ride on tropical fruit. This legend has lasted into the modern era.

One fisherman from Florida told the news that he checks arriving passengers on his ship for Banana Republic clothes, Banana Boat sunscreen, and even Fruit of the Loom undergarments, despite the fact that Fruit of the Loom’s logo doesn’t even contain a banana. Another captain recounted an incident in 2001 when another fisherman slashed out the Banana Republic logo of a man’s t-shirt. Maybe consider avoiding anything banana-related the next time you book a fishing expedition, just to be safe.^[3]

7 Davy Jones and His Locker

Davy Jones’s locker is generally a euphemism for the bottom of the sea, where shipwrecks and drowned sailors could be sent if something went horribly wrong. In one early story, Jones was described as having devil horns, a tail, huge round eyes, and multiple rows of teeth, similar to a shark. He also breathed blue smoke and would appear in the rigging of ships before a storm or a shipwreck.

The name of the devil, “Davy Jones,” could come from the combination of two religious characters. Saint David was the patron saint of Wales, and Welsh sailors often called on him to protect him at sea. The last name “Jones” is likely tied to the prophet Jonah. There was a real British pirate named David Jones who terrorized the Indian Ocean in the 1630s, but he was not well-known, and there’s likely no connection.

Another possible origin is a pub owner in London who would allegedly get sailors drunk, trap them in a locker, and then sell them as slaves. According to one story, the pub owner also stole a ship and became a pirate who captured crews, decapitated most of them, and then imprisoned the rest on the ships before sinking them.

However, Davy Jones isn’t always bad in nautical mythology. A common naval ceremony is still celebrated today when a sailor first passes over the equator—called “crossing the line”—and Davy Jones is often a character who assists King Neptune during the party. ^[4]

6 Mother Carey

Mother Carey is not someone any seaman wanted to anger. Her legend originated in the 18th and 19th centuries and described her as a sea goddess or witch. In some tellings, she is married to Davy Jones (Source 14). Storm petrels, a type of bird, are often believed to be the souls of dead sailors and are heavily associated with her. They are sometimes called Mother Carey’s geese.

In certain stories, Mother Carey may also have the power to call retired sailors back to life at sea and could have the powers of a siren, using her powerful voice to lure men off ships to their watery graves. However, in almost all stories, Mother Carey is an evil character who can cause storms and shipwrecks, sending more souls to her husband’s locker.

It’s been theorized that her name comes from the expression “mater cara” or “precious mother,” which scared European sailors would call out when they encountered a dangerous situation at sea.^[5] In some versions of her legend, Mother Carey lives on an iceberg in the northern seas and combs her hair with the bones of the dead.

5 Selkies

Staring out into the unknown depths of the sea, it made sense that many nautical legends involved speculation over what mysterious creatures might live beneath the waves. Selkies are mythical creatures common in Celtic and Norse nautical legend. They are ocean-dwelling beings that can shapeshift between the form of a seal and the form of a human.

Like mermaids, stories about them are often romantic, with sailors stealing the selkies’ seal skin to prevent them from turning back into seals so that the men could keep them as their wives. Unfortunately, the marriages often ended sadly, with the selkies either living as humans who long to return to their families and lives in the ocean or with the selkies finding their seal skin and abandoning their human husbands and children to return to the sea.

Most selkie stories are about female selkies, but there are also stories about handsome male selkies romancing lonely fishermen’s wives. Some descriptions of the creatures state that selkies were once fully human but became cursed after committing sins. Others state that selkies are actually fallen angels. Children born with webbed feet or toes were often seen as the children of a selkie and human. There is significant overlap in the myth of the selkie, mermaid, siren, and even the shape-shifting swan bride popular in European mythology.^[6]

4 The Flying Dutchman

One of the most well-known nautical legends is the ghost ship The Flying Dutchman. The Dutchman is a mysterious ship with a ghostly glow that sailors have reported spotting for hundreds of years and is usually considered an omen of doom. The legend likely originated in the 17th or 18th century. The backstory most commonly involves a disappearing ship captained by a crew doomed to never touch land, wandering the seas forever as punishment for some horrible deed.

One of the very first written accounts of the legend in 1790 describes a Dutch captain attempting to sail around the Cape of Good Hope through a major storm. The crew tried to convince the captain to turn around, but he swore he would keep sailing to shore even if it took him until the end of time. The devil heard this promise and cursed the captain, whose only hope was to find a woman who truly loved him.

Some versions of the story name the real East India Company captain Bernard Fokke as the Dutchman. His sailing trips were so fast that jealous rivals often said he must have made a deal with the devil. Whatever the true origins are, reports of the ship carried on through the 20th century, including a first-hand report from the future King George V. Scientists have speculated that reports of the Dutchman are likely cases of the Fata Morgana mirage, which can make the ghostly image of a ship appear on the horizon.^[7]

3 The Chaleur Phantom

A similar case to the Dutchman is the Fireship of Baie des Chaleurs or the Chaleur phantom. This type of ghostly light is often spotted near New Brunswick, Canada, taking the form of a tall sailing ship on fire, often seen right before a storm.

One origin story tells of a woman killed by pirates in the area, who then cursed them, saying, “For as long as the world is, may you burn on the bay.” Another tale tells of a Portuguese sea captain who kidnapped the native Mi’kmaq people of the area as slaves in 1501, and the Mi’kmaq killed the captain as revenge. When the captain’s brother came to look for him, the Mi’kmaq set his ship on fire. As their ship burned, the men jumped into the sea and promised to haunt the bay for 1,000 years.

Another telling says one crew was afraid of a storm and murdered a man they believed was bad luck. The man’s vengeful spirit lit their ship on fire, and it has never gone out. Some scientists believe natural gas from underwater or floating marsh gas may cause the flash of light that locals believe is the haunting Chaleur Phantom.^[8]

2 St. Elmo’s Fire

There is one kind of flashing light that is considered good luck by sailors. St. Elmo’s fire is a glowing light created on the masts of ships or other sharp objects like church spires, airplanes, chimneys, or even the horns of bulls and blades of grass. It usually takes on a fizzing, blue-violet color caused by strong electrical fields in the air, which can often be created during a lightning storm.

The phenomenon has been described throughout history, including reports from Charles Darwin, Ferdinand Magellan, Julius Caesar, Benjamin Franklin, and Nikola Tesla. Sailors believed this light was a good omen because it showed that St. Elmo—the patron saint of sailors—was traveling with them.

St. Elmo was originally known as Erasmus of Formia, and according to legend, he continued to preach even when a lightning bolt struck the ground right next to him. This led to the connection between St. Elmo and protection from storms, making him a good friend for a sailor to have. He’s also the patron saint of intestinal disease, cramps, colic, cattle, and labor pains^[9]

1 Tattoos

Tattoos have been a major part of nautical culture for centuries, but they’re often more than just body art for sailors. The first sailor tattoos likely originated when explorer James Cook arrived in the South Pacific during the 1700s, and his crew decided to get Maori tattoos as souvenirs from the journey.

In the early 1900s, many men got tattoos of naked women in hopes it would prevent them from being drafted into the Navy, but the problem was easily solved by having clothes added on top of the image. Norman Collins, also known as Sailor Jerry, helped popularize the classic style of American Navy tattoos from his shop in Hawaii during the mid-1900s.

Certain symbols and phrases are thought to contain protective powers. If a sailor was thrown overboard, tattoos of farm animals like pigs and chickens were thought to trick God into believing that a land animal had been lost at sea and needed to be brought back to land. This was also popularized because farm animals were often the only survivors of shipwrecks when their wooden crates floated.

A tattoo of the phrase “Hold Fast” on a sailor’s knuckles was believed to prevent them from falling off the ship’s rigging. A compass or north star was believed to help seamen find their way home. Some tattoos, including swallows, anchors, dragons, and turtles, were used to celebrate sailors’ achievements, like crossing the equator or the international dateline. ^[10]