Sailor myth

[Ricky S]

Now I have no idea where I heard this myth or if it is even a myth at all but I want to know if anyone else has heard of it.

Apparently during the days of sailing ships. Sailors believed that there was an airpocket underwater. This lead to the sailors swimming down instead of up if they were thrown deep under the surface (ie during a storm). Being so far from the surface it made more sense to swim down and try to reach the airpocket. Of course anyone who did do that would drown.

So has anyone heard of anything like this? I have done a few google searches but to no avail.

[Jack Squat]

I had never heard anything of that sort. I know that when a ship capsizes, it'll often have an air pocket, as it turned over faster than the air could escape. I could also see how a sailor may try to head for that instead of going for the surface, only to be stuck under the sinking ship.

But the belief that there are air pockets just sitting underwater is new to me.

[Sholos]

The reason that some drowning persons swim down instead of up is that they can't tell which way is up. They get confused underwater and guess wrong.

[Dr.Epic]

The reason that some drowning persons swim down instead of up is that they can't tell which way is up. They get confused underwater and guess wrong.

Yeah, I think you're confusing that with this. What you're supposed to do is follow the bubbles upward.

[DeadManSleeping]

A lot of great ways to find the surface exist! Most of them involve having air. Slightly problematic.

[Ravens_cry]

When you are several, if not tens or even hundreds or thousands of miles from land in a storm, swimming is not going to do you any good. At most it will prolong the agony. Swimming down is basically killing yourself so you don't die a worse death. Also, many sailors couldn't swim. Again, in most situations it would only prolong the agony.

[Serpentine]

The myth rings a bell, but I can't find it anywhere. I can see it being a way to explain why drowning sailors swim downwards, though.

[Partof1]

They did that in Pirates of the Carribean, didn't they? Flipped the boat upside down, then it floated "up" to another surface.

[Kobold-Bard]

They did that in Pirates of the Carribean, didn't they? Flipped the boat upside down, then it floated "up" to another surface.

Technically yes. However they did that to escape another dimension or something, not to survive a sinking ship.

[Yora]

I'm from a sailor-nation and I've never heard of such a story. We have lots of tales about the sea, but that one is completely new to me.

[Surfing HalfOrc]

I served 20 years in the U.S. Navy, and never heard this myth. And as a D&D geek, I was always looking for new myths!

However, the getting disoriented and not knowing which was was up was and is a real hazard. Below 33 feet your ears equalize so you can't really tell if you are getting deeper from the increasing pressure. Following bubbles requires you have enough air to release a few bubbles, that you have enough light to see the bubbles, and that you remember these handy tips.

But here are some myths that are true(ish):
Earrings improve eyesight (The earlobe is a common accupuncture site for eyes)
Earrings are only authorized in uniform if your ship was shot out from beneath you.
Sailors will tattoo a pig and a chicken on their feet to prevent drowning.

Ask your sailor myths, and I'll do my best to answer them!

[Kobold-Bard]

...
Sailors will tattoo a pig and a chicken on their feet to prevent drowning.

...

Err....whut?

[Yora]

Sailors are a very superstitious lot.

[The Succubus]

Somewhere under the Pacific Ocean.....

Sailor 1: "Hey, I can see a stream of huge bubbles rising towards us! We're saved!"

Sailor 2: "NO! WAIT, DON'T!"

Sailor 1: *Pops bubble and immediately chokes to death on noxious gases*

Sailor 2: ".....that was Cthulhu farting in his sleep...."



No, don't ask me how they're managing to talk to each other underwater.

[Surfing HalfOrc]

Indeed we are! The chicken and pig myth dates to when ships took live animals to eat later. When a ship sank, often the chickens and pigs survived because their cages floated.

[Kobold-Bard]

Indeed we are! The chicken and pig myth dates to when ships took live animals to eat later. When a ship sank, often the chickens and pigs survived because their cages floated.

Oooooohhhhh.....

Sailors are a very superstitious lot.

Apparently so.

[Ravens_cry]

Sailors are a very superstitious lot.

You choose a career where your well being, and even (in the Age of Sail) ability to get anywhere, depends on forces entirely beyond your control, like the weather and you tell me you don't develop a few superstitions.

[Surfing HalfOrc]

A San Diego myth was that if you threw your "dixie cup" cover (hat) overboard as the ship went under the Coronado Bay Bridge and it floated all the way to the shore, you would reenlist. A friend of mine weighted his down with wire in the brim! (He wanted to use a bronze valve, but the command wouldn't let him.)

The wire was hidden in the edge of his dixie cup, so it looked like a normal cover. It went down in less than a second!

[factotum]

You choose a career where your well being...depends on forces entirely beyond your control, like the weather and you tell me you don't develop a few superstitions.

Does forces entirely beyond your control, like a manager count?

[ForzaFiori]

Sailors are a very superstitious lot.

From everything I've heard, it's commonly believed that sailors are the most superstitious people ever. Followed closely by athletes (especially fighters and soccer players)

[Ravens_cry]

From everything I've heard, it's commonly believed that sailors are the most superstitious people ever. Followed closely by athletes (especially fighters and soccer players)

Tabletop-RPG Gamers and Gamblers are also known for their superstitions.

[Eldan]

And actors.

I've heard that knowing how to swim was considered unlucky for a sailor, because, apparently, that was tempting fate to throw you overboard.

Anyone else heard that one?

[Tragic_Comedian]

Err....whut?

In the days of old, when a ship was sinking, the cages containing pigs and chickens would float. Sailors began tattooing chickens and pigs on their feet as a good luck charm, hoping they would float too.

[sparkyinbozo]

Pilots have some great superstitions, too. Offhand, I think of the unlucky poker hand one.

[thubby]

people have been known to get turned around when thrown into the water, making some swim down, which is probably where that came from.

theres also a certain depth at which humans stop floating.

[Worlok]

You choose a career where your well being, and even (in the Age of Sail) ability to get anywhere, depends on forces entirely beyond your control, like the weather and you tell me you don't develop a few superstitions.

There's even the one superstition that says that whenever you use a candle, rather than a match, to light anything other than another candle, a fire breaks out on board of a ship somewhere. Talk about not being in control.

[Icewalker]

Yeah, ironically, fire was actually one of the biggest dangers on ships, as they were made pretty much entirely out of tarred wood, ropes, and oiled cloth.

There's a fun saying more than a myth, but it's a similar idea. Shakespeare references it at the beginning of the Tempest. A man born to be hanged need not fear drowning. ie, a pirate, who is destined to hang, isn't going to die cause of anything else.

[Seonor]

There's even the one superstition that says that whenever you use a candle, rather than a match, to light anything other than another candle, a fire breaks out on board of a ship somewhere. Talk about not being in control.

This is at least somewhat based on reality. Old/disabled sailors used to make matches to pay for food and rent. So if you use a candle to light something (usually cigarettes), you would rob them of their only income.
That is why, some time ago, if you tried to light your cigarette on something other than a match, at least in north germany and parts of france someone would say: "Don't do that, otherwise a sailor dies." Of course most people don't say that anymore unless they want to annoy the tourists.
(Source, but I also heard the story from some old seafaring buddies of my father.)



Edit: That reminds me of another story of my father: Sailors used to have a piece of gold somewhere on them - e. g. an earring - that they would keep allways on them. Mostly they did this because if the sailor died in a foreign harbour whithout any friends or relatives nearby he would not get a grave and church service if he could not pay for it in some way.

[Tirian]

theres also a certain depth at which humans stop floating.

Some people don't float even on the surface, it all depends on how much fat you're carrying relative to muscle.

But yes, for everyone else there is a depth where the pressure will shrink your body to the point that your density becomes heavier than water and down you go. The best strategy, as mentioned earlier, is to exhale slowly and follow the bubbles to the surface, but that is an insight that rarely comes naturally to drowning people.

[Ravens_cry]

And actors.

I've heard that knowing how to swim was considered unlucky for a sailor, because, apparently, that was tempting fate to throw you overboard.

Anyone else heard that one?

Yes, yes I have. I think it develops from a little old magic (once in contact, always in contact) and the fact, as already mentioned, knowing how to swim doesn't help in nearly any situation.

There's even the one superstition that says that whenever you use a candle, rather than a match, to light anything other than another candle, a fire breaks out on board of a ship somewhere. Talk about not being in control.

Makes sense. A match is a smaller fire than a candle and taking a big, drippy candle or oil lantern and using it to light another fire is a bigger risk. Drop a match, it often goes out. Drop a candle or, worse, lit oil lamp and you potentially have a much bigger fire on your hands. Of course, the danger is possibly exaggerated and mythologised, but, like not wanting woman or passengers on-board, there is a grain of sense to it.