Coins to bring you luck

WHEN I LOOK at the forest of masts in a marina I wonder how many of those masts have coins under them. The ritual of placing a coin under the mast to bring a ship luck goes back thousands of years. The ancient Greeks believed that when you died you had to cross the River Styx to get to Hades, which, in those days, was regarded simply as the Underworld, the home of the dead. It wasn't hell as we think about it now. But  you had to have a coin to pay the boatman to take you across the river.

Every boat I've owned (at least those larger than a sailing dinghy) has had a coin under the mast, or, in one case, a thin disk of gold.  It's not that I'm superstitious, it's just that I'm a sucker for ritual and tradition and . . . oh well, all right,  I guess I'll have to admit it, I'm superstitious.

When a large medieval ship was discovered preserved in mud near Guangzhou, in Fujien, China, archeologists found coins inserted into the scarf joints in her keel.  In fact, the Guangzhou ship was furnished with a whole set of coins that formed a representation of the moon and the stars of the Great Bear constellation.

Another medieval vessel, the Vejby Cog, a boat originally about 45 feet long, was discovered in 1976 at Vejby strand in Denmark. There were still ceramics on board and, more significantly, about 100 English gold coins dated 1351 to 1377. Three of these had been placed under the mast.

Modern navies have continued the tradition. One of the U.S. Navy's newest carriers, the U.S.S. Ronald Reagan, has her lucky coins placed under the huge island house that contains the bridge, controls rooms and pilot house.

Captain John W. Goodwin placed his gold naval-aviator wings there, along with a selection of coins. The ceremony was conducted on November 11, 2000, when giant cranes hoisted the 650-ton island house in place.

So if your mast doesn't yet have a coin under it, you might want to start thinking about it. You don't have to use rare or expensive coins. In fact, in the days of wooden ships, when even skilled artisans earned comparatively little, it was regarded as imprudent to use gold.

So choose a coin that means something to you, one that was minted in the year the boat was launched, perhaps, or one from the year when you were born.

Today's Thought

Against a lucky man, even a god has little power.
— Publilius Syrus, Sententiae

Welcome to number 500

WE HAVE reached another little milestone together, you and I.  This is the 500th Mainly about Boats column.  You can read any one of them by clicking on the list of subjects shown at the bottom of this page.

Incidentally, although the official name of this column is Mainly about Boats, I have never emphasized it. Hardly even mentioned it, in fact, except in the little line that asks you to tune in on Monday, Wednesday and Friday for a new column. Perhaps it needs more prominence.

At the same time, the number of Followers has reached 100 for the first time, something that will have repercussions, I'm sure, for Col. Ivor Tungin-Cheaque, Chairman of Vigor's Silent Fan Club, the biggest fan club in the world.  I'm sure we will be hearing from him as soon as he can chew through his restraints once again.

In any case, I'd like to thank you all for your support, your comments and suggestions, and your occasional rude and uninformed criticism, which I don't print and don't take any notice of, so there.  As Kingsley Amis once said, "If you can't annoy somebody, there's little point in writing."

Tailpiece

"Sorry to hear that your wife ran away with your chauffeur."
"Ah, no problem. I was going to fire him anyway."

(Drop by every Monday, Wednesday, Friday for a new Mainly about Boats column.)