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On top of superstitions about wind and weather, there are lots of things that are supposed to bring a ship good or bad luck.
There are superstitions about how to begin a voyage, how to name a ship, what color to paint her, when and where to bleed at sea,
and how to put down hatch covers, just to name a few.
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We followed two traditions at the very beginning of our voyage to ensure a good trip. First, a ship should never begin a long voyage on a Friday, so we waited until Monday to sail out of Lunenburg, Nova Scotia. Maria said that sailors thought Friday was an unlucky day because Jesus Christ was crucified on a
Friday. Captain Moreland thought it was probably also because everyone worked all week getting the ship ready to leave, so by
the time Friday rolled around they were tired and more likely to have problems if they left right away instead of taking a day off.
Second, for good luck on a long voyage the captain of the ship is supposed to eat the first flying fish that jumps over the side. Our captain ate the first one that jumped over the
side of the Picton Castle on this trip. He said it was good and that they eat flying fish all the time in the Caribbean.
 Another set of superstitions applies to the construction and naming of a vessel. Changing the name of a ship is supposed to
be unlucky although the Picton Castle had her name changed several times before returning to her current name, which is also her original name. Although ships commonly change names these days, most ships still follow the tradition of keeping the original bell with the ship's first name written on it. The original Picton Castle bell is hanging up at the very tip of the ship. It's stamped with the year the ship was built, 1928.
Painting a ship blue is also unlucky, but in Norway they paint ships blue all the time. My best guess is that ships aren't usually painted blue because it makes them hard to see since the ocean and the sky are also blue a lot of the time. Lynsey thought the sailors were probably just sick of seeing blue everywhere, but the Captain made the most reasonable guess of all, that they didn't paint ships blue because blue paint was expensive.
When building a ship, sailors also used to put coins under the masts. One naval commander thought perhaps this tradition came from an earlier Roman tradition. The Romans used to put coins in the mouths of the dead because in Roman mythology, the
spirits of the dead had to pay Charon to take them across the River Styx in his boat before they could enter the underworld. Sailors might have started putting coins under the masts so that if the ship sank the money would pay their fare on Charon's boat.
 Once the ship is built and painted, another set of superstitions governs life onboard. If you're sewing sails and you stab yourself with the needle, no need to worry because blood on the sails is lucky. Be careful not to bleed into the ocean, however, because once the sea has had a taste of you it will be hungry for more. Never put down a hatch cover upside down, never stop the bell from ringing, and never tie a hangman's noose. Most of these superstitions are easy to learn, but there is one that's a bit harder to explain. It usually goes something like this:
Person 1: So I eating roast pig in Tonga and I suddenly -
Person 2: Don't say that!
Person 1: Um.... Don't say what?
Person 2: That word!
Person 1: What word? What are you talking about?
Person 2: The P word. It's bad luck.
Person 1: (who has by now forgotten what they he or she was
saying in the first place) The P word? Which P word? Picasso?
Puppy? Person? There are a lot of P words.
Person 2: (whispering) P-I-G. Don't say it!
Person 1: Why can't I say pig?
Person 2: Ack, stop that! It's just bad luck!
At this point person 2 probably walks off in a huff while person 1 is still looking confused and wondering if it's alright to say words with pig in them like piglet and piggy. I'm glad we follow some traditions, like having cats for good luck, but I'm glad we don't still believe in all the old superstitions. They used to think that having a woman onboard was bad luck so that's one superstition I'm very glad we don't follow. I don't know how much truth is in any of these superstitions, but as we sail these wide blue seas you won't catch me whistling, I'll keep all my blood onboard, and I won't stop the bells from ringing. After all, you can never be too careful.
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