Supernatural in Real Life?

[Addendum_Forthcoming]

Well you could say the same about anything really. Titanic wasn't christened. Nearly all large Western ships are christened at first berth, nearly all ships don't sink with hands on deck, proper ceremonial berthing practices save lives and ships. What were they thinking?

In all honesty I understand why with ships. I kind of like naval traditions and I think when people see ships they see some fantastic element of human adventure, courage and fortitude.

 

[Something Amyss]

In all honesty I understand why with ships. I kind of like naval traditions and I think when people see ships they see some fantastic element of human adventure, courage and fortitude.

I don't know, having grown up around them, they kind of get tiresome. Especially if women on a ship are still considered bad luck. >.<

 

[Addendum_Forthcoming]

I don't know, having grown up around them, they kind of get tiresome. Especially if women on a ship are still considered bad luck. >.<

Might come with being Australian. Most of us live on or near coastlines, so we kind of see ships as somewhat romantic. That and we're kind of isolated and surrounded by three oceans. And they're what will be our escape .... Now excuse me. I have a red coat I need to brain, steal his rifle and stowaway on that ship bound to Mother England. I'mma coming home mumsy!

In all seriousness, women as bad luck is kind of overplayed. More than a few needed to be transported for multiple war efforts Australia got into over the centuries. As nurses, war clerks, spies, prisoners, passengers ... basically the entirety of the New World wouldn't be possible if they went so far as to exclude women from ships. Besides, the whole women as bad luck on working ships is kind of the exception rather than the rule. During a storm it's said a bare chested woman could calm oceans and 'shame the squall' ... which lead to the popularity of using women as figureheads, but only ever on the prow and forward masts (very important).

Which was weird given that most ships wanted nothing to do with women, at least at sea. But the reason why in the 18th century you had a whole rash of rather articulately detailed prow figureheads and wood carvings on ships that were overwhelmingly figures of women was because a woman; "needed eyes to see and arms to guide." That she would calm their way to port. So a detailed figurehead of a woman was considered a powerful good luck charm.

Plenty of stories of women dressing as men on ships, not to hide that they were women but for some reason or another it was considered as a way to contain men's lusts. Some stories of women becoming navigators. Which ironically was one of the first inroads women made into the sea trade despite the immense importance of the work, but understandable given myths about women and storms.

So Miss Amyss, if there is ever a storm at sea you should totally teeter precariously on the prow of a ship. For the good of the crew ... also bare chested.

 

[Something Amyss]

Might come with being Australian. Most of us live on or near coastlines, so we kind of see ships as somewhat romantic.

New England. Almost all coastal. Strong maritime tradition. My family are sailors, fishers, and merpeople forget I said that last bit.

 

[Addendum_Forthcoming]

Might come with being Australian. Most of us live on or near coastlines, so we kind of see ships as somewhat romantic.

New England. Almost all coastal. Strong maritime tradition. My family are sailors, fishers, and merpeople forget I said that last bit.

Yeah, but unlike 99% of the Northern Hemisphere, we actually have pretty coastline to sail around

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

No god damn it, Jensen and Jared are just good friends! They don't actually go around slaying vampires and salt/burn bodies!

 

[Thaluikhain]

Which was weird given that most ships wanted nothing to do with women, at least at sea. But the reason why in the 18th century you had a whole rash of rather articulately detailed prow figureheads and wood carvings on ships that were overwhelmingly figures of women was because a woman; "needed eyes to see and arms to guide." That she would calm their way to port. So a detailed figurehead of a woman was considered a powerful good luck charm.

As I understand it, that might be because the ship is female itself, and would get jealous about other females. So, you can have a female figurehead, but not any actual women. Or something.

 

[Addendum_Forthcoming]

As I understand it, that might be because the ship is female itself, and would get jealous about other females. So, you can have a female figurehead, but not any actual women. Or something.

Yeah, but it wasn't just a figurehead. A lot of ships used to have figures and reliefs of women also carved into the forward sections of the vessel. Multiple drpictions of different women.

Have to remember that sailing was practically a death sentence for most crews expecting to serve a long time. High exposure to new diseases, piss poor food, ruthless discipline, horrific living conditions, high intensity labour... Given the huge economic and physical risks involved, many naval traditions and superstitions were highly individualized. Not only that, but given that successful voyages were often merely about luck, and the personal costs of assuming command, it's all too often easy to pass one's shortcomings and failures as something beyond your human control.

I forget the exact nature of the event, but one of tge first things a captain fid after recovering from storm damage was tear off the figurehead (of a woman) and cast it into the sea. Refusing to bear one on his ship. That being said, on the flipside of that there are cases of women joining crews in sometimes very prestigious position after being at sea long enough to learn highlg specialized skills.

A lot of these traditions are as individual as their captaincy. Even though many figureheads weren't actually maidens, it was still common to affix/carve multiple depictions of women into the prow. Suffice it to say, "no women on working ships" is more a 'guide' than a rule. Not only that, a lot of these traditions date back to before the relatively new idea of thinking of ships as female. Seeing Athena on ancient Greek ships was both an act of piety, a prayer to a goddess of war, and a symbol of the city where the ship was berthed from, for example.

(Edit) Might I add though. No sailor barring a greedy/enterprising merchant/merchant employee loved their ship though. So if the idea was the ship might get jealous it it were spurned by the men and their attention is kind of weird. Most sailors would call both her and the seas a cruel *****. There's a reason why piracy and privateering proper was seen as fair less enviable than traditional buccaneering in terms of the Caribbean... open seafaring turned good men bitter, if not monsters.

Buccaneers had a fair more landed lifestyle and it's surmised this increase of autonomy was what birthed the more romantic images we transpose onto 'pirates' as a collective. You know, crews rather than captains choosing prey, better divides of wealth, elected leadership, big ships...

All the stuff we assume all pirates did in popular culture.

 

[Something Amyss]

Yeah, but unlike 99% of the Northern Hemisphere, we actually have pretty coastline to sail around

I mean,. I suppose if you mean literally around, since traveling around the whole of North and South America would be largely impractical for most people....