Evening Republican, Volume 23, Number 40, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 February 1920 — Old-Time Sailors Would Not Make Voyage Without Carrying Good Luck Charm [ARTICLE]

Old-Time Sailors Would Not Make Voyage Without Carrying Good Luck Charm

Time was wfien sailors would not think of sailing without a, charm or pocketpiece of some kind to ward off ba4 lock. Wind beads were a favorite and in nearly every port were ma Ideue to sell them. Txttoos were considered essential for bon voyage, especially the butterfly fin the shoulder predominated for good luck. A pig tattooed on the foot was assurance the man would never drown, sailors say not a man is known to have drowned if he possessed this ■significance of charm against fate. And so the old sailor, by the hour, could spin yarns and point to strange fate-Inexplicable disaster always laid to the door of superstition.