"The story of “The Spectre Ship of Salem,” " Topic

"A great deal of maritime superstition revolves around the building and naming of a new ship, and consequently for thousands of years of human seafaring, the launching of a vessel has entailed some serious ceremony, from the Ancient Babylonians pouring bitumen over the hull and sacrificing oxen, to the Classical Greeks, who donned olive branch headgear, drank wine to honor the gods, and poured water over the vessel in blessing, to the Ottoman feasting and sheep sacrifices that preceded pushing off. The more familiar ritual of busting a bottle of wine on the prow in the West is liturgically Catholic in form and effectively represents a christening or baptism, and likely results from the fact that of all our technological feats, few are anthropomorphized to the extent that a sailing vessel is. "There is a vast difference between building houses or automobiles and building ships. A shipwright is more than a carpenter; he is a combination of a carpenter, cabinetmaker, engineer, and smith. The result of his work, in the eyes of many people, is man's closest approach to creating with his hands a living thing endowed with all the frailties of a human being (Beck, 1957, p48). Thus there is an indisputable logic in (1) choosing an appropriate name likely to confer good fortune, and (2) making an appeal to the celestial powers that be to look favorably on your efforts, just in case. Along came the Reformation in 1517 A.D., when Martin Luther tacked up his 95 Theses and ushered in a few hundred years of Catholics and Protestants clubbing each other over the head across Europe. One odd offshoot of the conflict seems to be that Protestant-leaning countries stopped baptizing their ships. I say why tempt fate, but I guess sometimes you just have to stand on principle. Then again, this may have had catastrophic consequences for the residents of New Haven, Connecticut in 1648, and I for one blame Rhode Island.

In 1647, the future was not looking so bright for the nascent colony of New Haven (actually distinct from the Connecticut Colony at the time). The colony was founded in 1637 by about 500 breakaway Puritans who hated the Red Sox (okay, fine, they found the theocratic leadership of their original Massachusetts Bay Colony a bit oppressive). Unfortunately, the founders of New Haven happened to be a set of colonists badly prepared to set up an independent and self-sufficient little nation-state, mostly because they had a fondness for food, but hated farming. "New Haven was settled by merchants whose leading idea was commerce, not agriculture, for which they and the land, indeed, were illy adapted. In 1641 they planted a colony on the Delaware to trade with the Indians. The next year it was broken up by the Dutch from New York, who claimed jurisdiction. Extremely disappointed in trade, their large estates rapidly dwindling, they built a large ship and freighted her for England with the best part of their commercial estates (Howe, 1884, p8).

So, the New Haven gentleman were not especially interested in farm work, and even if they were, New Haven is a rotten place to grow anything but an insurance company. Add to that the Dutch willingness to burn any commercial enterprise planted near their territories in New York or Delaware to the ground, and New Haven was feeling itself hard pressed to make a go of it. Unfortunately, New Haven was just a little enclave with a decent port and a bunch of hopeful citizens who knew if they could just get their goods to market in Europe, they might be able to make a tidy profit and turn things around. The problem, as it usually is, was the middlemen. "Up to this time they had sent goods to England by way of Boston or of the West Indies; there might be more profit, they thought, in a direct trade, cutting out the cost of reshipment. So they bought a ship. We do not know her name, she is always spoken of as the ‘Great Shippe,' although she was only one hundred tons; perhaps the title was given her because the colonists were staking so much on this venture. If it succeeded, their prosperity might be assured; if it failed, they must give up the sea and commerce as a dependence and turn their energies to agriculture. The ‘Great Shippe' was a new boat, said to have been built in Rhode Island" (Newton, 1916, p38)…"
Full article here
link

Amicalement
Armand

There is a reason for the old Breton prayer:

'Oh God thy sea is so great and my boat is so small'

(smile)

Amicalement
Armand