9 Bizarre Superstitions That Pirates Followed Rigorously

There are many people in the world who believe in a huge number of signs. However, it deserves special attention that among very superstitious people there are representatives of a specific type of activity, for example, athletes or actors. However, not every modern person is aware of how much fearless at first glance pirates believed in signs. Moreover, some superstitions are so strange that today they can only be laughed at, and the sea robbers firmly believed either in the power of talismans in the form of a fragment of a dagger, or even in the destructive power of bananas.

• 1. Unfavorable days for going to sea

  Not every day was good for a pirate raid

  It turns out that the pirates had their own calendar of unfavorable days. Most often, it was associated with when you can not go to sea. So, the sea robbers did everything not to start another raid on Thursday or Friday, and leaving the land on Sunday was completely unrealistic.

  There was also one religious holiday, which in no case could be celebrated at sea. We are talking, oddly enough, about Easter. Moreover, as a confirmation of the last superstition, a popular legend was cited that told about the pirate Reed: according to the legend, he went on a raid in search of prey on Easter Sunday, and after that, neither he, nor the ship, nor the crew, was ever seen again.

• 2. Prohibition of the last look at the shore

  No look on the land

  It turns out that the pirates had their own modification of the famous superstition "Returning is a bad sign." It followed from it that after the ship departs for the next raid from the pier, it was strictly forbidden to look back at the shore. It was believed that if you break this ban, then the whole trip will turn into a failure.

• 3. Status of a woman in piracy

  The woman was indeed a curse on board, but not every one

  Perhaps it is difficult to find a more famous superstition of sea robbers, which was as common among sailors as the prohibition of women on board. If a woman still ended up on the ship, the one who allowed this should have been immediately executed.

  However, in some way, a woman was present on board: firstly, most often pirates called their ships just by female names, and secondly, it was the statue of a naked woman that was placed on the ship as a bow decoration, since they believed that she would be able to calm the storm raging at sea.

• 4. The special purpose of the earring in the ear of a pirate

  An earring for a pirate had a whole range of functions, including beliefs

  Many people know that a gold earring in the ear is an indispensable element of the appearance of an experienced sea robber. But the number of its appointments is really surprising: in addition to the traditional version that in the golden era of piracy the sailor who passed Cape Horn was celebrated in this way, there were a lot of superstitions about the earring.

  For example, it was believed that gold improved eyesight, and the earring was endowed with the ability of a talisman that protects the wearer from seasickness or death due to drowning. But even when the pirate ended his earthly journey, the earring played its own role: it served as payment for his funeral. It worked like this: if he dies as a result of a shipwreck, and his body was washed ashore, then the one who discovered him and buried him according to Christian custom had the right to take the deceased’s golden earring for his labors.

• 5. The forbidden word

  Sometimes a fight between pirates is the result of an omen

  It is unlikely that anyone can imagine that often a fight between two pirates could be the result of a single spoken word that should not be uttered. And all because the rule was observed on board the ship: under no circumstances, after going to the sea, could one say the word "floater" (“drowned man”), as this could bring trouble to all members of the crew.

  However, apparently, the pirates were well aware that the word could sometimes still be spoken. And in order to remove the negative impact of this forbidden word from the crew, it was necessary to bleed the offender. It was then that the pirates decided to simply break the nose of the one who said it.

• 6. Fear of the cormorant

  The original object of fear of pirates

  You can still think about the fact that pirates may have peculiar phobias. But it will be simply unrealistic to guess about the object of this fear. After all, it is very difficult to imagine that the fearless thunderstorms of the seas were afraid of ... cormorants, and they were panicking from these birds. So it was believed that if at least one bird descends from the sky to the deck of the ship and flaps its wings, then this could mean the imminent death of one of the crew members. Well, a whole flock of cormorants was a real curse - in this case, misfortunes and death could await the entire crew.

• 7. Unacceptable position of the soles of pirate boots

  Even the boots had to be placed correctly

  Given the popularity of superstitions about clothing, it is not surprising that the sea robbers also had them. So, today at least one such sign is known, and it was associated with shoes. In no case could a pirate store or simply put his boots upside down, since it was believed that the ship on which he goes to sea would suffer a similar fate - it would turn over, being the bottom up.

• 8. Broken weapon talisman

  Blade fragments had a special power

  It would seem that for a pirate, as well as for any person who does not part with weapon, the latter matters only when it is intact and functional. However, the sea robbers managed to find a use for even a piece of edged weapons.

  Moreover, it was very original, just from the category of superstitions: for example, a piece of a knife or a dagger became a full-fledged amulet that could protect its owner from stab wounds. Moreover, pirates carried this talisman with them not only at sea, but also on land - who knows what kind of fight he might get into in a tavern or just on the street.

• 9. The deadly "aura" of bananas

  It would be hard to find a stranger pirate omen

  Who would have thought that for a pirate the most terrible cargo that cannot be taken with you under any circumstances would look exactly like a box of bananas? However, this strange superstition was one of the most popular among the fearless sea robbers.

  It was believed that this tropical fruit has such an aura or just notoriety that ships with it on board were the most likely to sink. It is difficult to say whether the pirates kept statistics of ships that crashed because of bananas in the hold, but the negative plume was so strong that this sign was strictly observed.