There is a superstition alive and well among many ships captains that bananas on a boat are unlucky.
The origins of this superstition are not clear. There are many theories.
In the early days vessels would stop at tropical islands to gather provisions for the trip back to Europe and they would pick up wooden crates of bananas. These crates would have all kinds of little surprises in them such as poisonous spiders and snakes. The crew would often be bitten by these poisonous spiders and snakes, some of which were very small, and become ill or die …..hence feeding the thought that the bananas were to blame.
Another theory was that slaves were brought from Africa to the New World in the holds of banana boats. So if you happened to wake up in a dark place and it smelled a lot like bananas... well ….. you were not going to be happy…. very bad luck for you.
Another thought was that bananas ripen quickly and then emit a gas that rapidly rots any other produce nearby, including the limes sailors found essential on long voyages to fight off scurvy and keep healthy. And so it was unlucky to have bananas onboard.
And then there was the simple theory that since in the 1700’s nearly every ship that disappeared and sank was carrying bananas….hauling bananas was unlucky.
Or maybe it evolved because bananas carried aboard slave ships fermented and gave off methane gas, which would be trapped below deck. And anyone in the hold, including the slaves, would succumb to the poisoned air. Quite unlucky.
Or even because some of the boats used to ferry fruit to Europe from S. America were aging wooden sailing ships and the bananas tended to rot in the holds which were not fully cleaned out causing the wood planks to rot out faster. In bad weather, some of these boats would come apart, and the rotting boards would leak faster than could be fixed.Or last but not least because ships following the trade routes would be carrying so much stuff and the ship's manifest would be loaded according to weight...with the heaviest on the bottom and lighter on top. When a ship would be bashed apart on a reef or some rocks...sometimes all that would be found of them would be the cargo of fruits and that were riding high in the holds...hence the only thing surviving was the fruit….lucky for the bananas but not the ship and crew.
Whatever the origins of this superstition…..the question is…… do YOU believe it? Legend has it that and executive from Fruit of the Loom underwear learned of the superstition while on an offshore fishing trip. The fish were in a particularly uncooperative mood, so he stripped off his unmentionables. After that, he considered the banana ban a true taboo, and the banana was banished from the fruity label.
Now me…I don’t know what to believe…but I watched a guy eat a banana on the dive boat this morning….and lost my first dive to my computer going bonkers……hmmmmm……