The 19th-century maritime superstitions that were believed to protect men at sea

The 19th-century maritime superstitions that were believed to protect men at sea

Mermaids' Rock by Edward Matthew Hale (1894). Leeds Art Gallery/Leeds Museums and GalleriesMaritime folklore has long been shuffled to the margins of nautical history, presented as the quaint, colourful oddities of a former age. Yet this body of beliefs, practices and stories can offer important insights into how seafarers of the 19th century viewed and understood their working environment. Beneath the dominant histories of European exploration,…