Since today is a special day I figured I would throw out two WOD’s for your reading pleasure.

Sailors are possibly the most superstitious group of people you will ever want to meet. They have several different superstitions which they claim will either make the ship better, the cruise safer, or bring harm to them.

The one which comes to mind today is It is unlucky to start a cruise on Friday.
This is the day Christ was crucified on. This actually happened on an episode of Deadliest Catch. One of the fishing boats was in port and was getting ready to leave, but it was Friday. So they all went to the bar and had a few drinks.

The reluctance of seamen to sail on a Friday reached such epic proportions, that in the 1800s the British Government decided to take strong measures to prove the fallacy of the superstition. They laid the keel of a new vessel on Friday, selected her crew on a Friday, launched her on a Friday and named her HMS Friday. They then placed her in command of one Captain James Friday and sent her to sea for the first time on a Friday. The scheme worked well, and had only one drawback ... neither ship nor crew was ever heard from again.

No trace of the ship was seen after it passed Lands End on its shakedown. Many stories have come about since the loss of the HMS Friday regarding its whereabouts. Some claim the ship was lost to a storm at sea, others feel pirates took over the ship. The best possible answer is she just sailed off into infamy never to return. No matter the fate of HMS Friday sailors still do not like to sail on a Friday. During my time in the Navy we did not leave port on a Friday.