126 FISHERMEN'S OWN BOOK. 



Fishermen's Superstitions. 



BY J. W. COLLINS, 



That there is more or less superstitious feeling in all seamen, from the 

 humblest fisher boy to the rear admiral, is apparent to every one who has 

 had an opportunity to observe the peculiarities of seafaring men. The fact 

 that seamen, and especially fishermen, seem to be more dependent on "luck" 

 than almost any other class of men, and that they are constantly meeting 

 with events calculated to excite superstitious feelings in the credulous, is, 

 without doubt, the cause of their believing in omens, signs, etc., to a certain 

 extent. 



But, are fishermen much more superstitious than other people among 

 whom they mingle when on shore, or even, to go farther than that, some 

 who move in the "highest circles?" 



Most writers on the fisheries have discussed the credulity of the fisher- 

 men, and, no doubt, many people have come to think that in this respect 

 they differ from the majority of mankind. Perley,* writing of the fisherman 

 of the Bay of Fundy, says : "He will undertake nothing of consequence 

 upon a Friday, and can prove by a hundred incidents how infallible are the 

 signs and omens which he believes in. He thinks to die in his bed. True 

 it is that he has been overset; that his boat, loaded with fish to the 'gun- 

 nel,' has sunk under him, and that a vessel has run over him; but he is still 

 alive and was not born to be drowned." * * "He believes in witches 

 and dreams." 



Granting that fishermen are credulous, it by no means follows that they 

 are peculiar in this respect; or that they are the only ones who believe 

 that "coming events cast their shadows before." The thrifty New England 

 housewife looks with unspeakable dread on a broken looking-glass, predict- 

 ing "seven years' hard luck;" expects a stranger when she drops her dish- 

 cloth on the floor ; tells her daughter, if the latter upsets a chair acciden- 

 tally, "You won't get married this year;" and so on, ad infinituvi. 



An excellent authority, Sabine, f writing of the American fisherman, says : 

 "It is said that he is credulous and superstitious. Admit that 'Kidd's 

 money' has been dug for in every dark nook of the coast, or talked about 

 in every cuddy, for a century and a half, and that horseshoes are nailed upon 

 the masts of fishing vessels to keep off witches ; what then ? Is he the 



*M. H. Perley. " Report on the Fisheries of New Brunswick," 1851. 

 tLorenzo Sabine. " Report on Fisheries of the American Seas," 1853, p. 383. 



