Some are substantiated. Some are unsubstantiated.
Some seem based off a reasonable premise. Some seem rather silly.
You've probably heard of the saying "Red sky at night, sailor's delight. Red sky in morning, sailors take warning." This is likely based off the idea that clouds and the sunrise and sunset are good indicators of what the weather is like off that particular horizon. I don't exactly understand the correlation, that if the sky is clear or cloudy and the sunrise or sunset is red indicates clear weather or stormy weather off the horizon. I mean, it would really depend on which direction the prevailing winds are blowing. If the winds are blowing from east to west and the sunset in the west is red, it doesn't really guarantee good weather does it? Just like if the sunrise is red in the east, if the winds are blowing from west to east, there is no guarantee you'll run into foul weather does it?
Then there is all the "talk like a pirate" stuff that goes on. With the success of Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy of films, everyone fancies him or her self some sort of carefree, swashbuckling buccaneer. It seems to be in good fun, even if people really have no idea what "Shiver me timbers!" or any number of other phrases mean. As long as a hearty, guttural "Aaaaar!" is included, it is all good, right?
But, here is one I've been thinking of for sometime: Rats leave a ship before it sinks...
Now, I don't know if it is just superstition or if it has some basis in real life. If you think about it, it would make sense for even the vermin on a ship to seek refuge by getting off a ship before it sinks. And yet, the superstition states that the vermin are smarter than the men aboard, because they sense something is wrong with the ship and get off well in advance of the ship sinking to avoid a watery grave. In the movies, we are shown rats running out of the holds, across decks, and down gangways and the sundry mooring lines just before the inevitable glub, glub, glub of the ship going under the water with the hapless human victims aboard. Sometimes, it is the villian who goes down with the ship, as the hero has gotten away. Other times, it is the innocent. And, in the proud, Victorian stiff-upper lip English tradition, it is the stoic Captain going down after making sure the crew and passengers are all off safely...
Here is what I want to ask you, what do you think of rats leaving the ship before it sinks? Is it at all possible that these rats may have been the cause for the ship to start floundering in the first place? Will the rats really be safe if the ship goes down away from dock? What if the rats are not really rats at all? What if the crew and passengers are not really crew and passengers, but people who were required to give or voluntarily put their trust in the "rats" who were in charge of the ship?
What do you think, do the rats deserve any further respect, trust, let alone absolution? What happens when you are one of the people left on the sinking ship, knowing it is sinking or has sunk, but don't know how long you will be able to tread water?
I dare say that in today's world, this is not a superstition, nor is it "all good." It is a fact for far too many of us.
