There were plety of libations offered to Neptune as the Vendée Globe fleet crossed the equator. Sam Davies offered Mumm’s to the Sea God and a bar of chocolate to herself, but ice man Riou said he wasn’t drinking alone – he’d wait for a more sociable occasion.
There are other superstitions in evidence, at least among the French skippers. For them, it is absolutely taboo to mention the name of the clan to which Bugs belongs – it is highly unlikely that any French boat carries even canned or potted meat of this animal. Curious, I searched for French language articles on the Web.
The first I came across was connected with the fact that the French use long ears rather than horns as a symbol for a cuckolded husband. Ally that with the legendary fecundity of our taboo animal and you can see why sailing ship captains and crews avoided referring to him.
The second is the commonest explanation:
Since even quite short voyages under sail could end up taking far longer than average, running out of food was quite common. On long passages, ships also carried livestock to provide a welcome change to the diets of their captain and officers (and in extreme cases, their sick), and some of the smaller ones occasionally escaped and foraged as best they could.
If you were a starving rodent, hemp cordage and sailcloth would be an obvious source of nourishment…
So, keep a cat to cull the rats, but don’t deliberately take on board any other critter with sharp, continuously-growing incisors.
