The irrational fear of today! Friday the 13th. Do not ask me to pronounce it either.

The word is a combination of three different Greek words for Friday, 13, and fear. These are Paraskeví, dekatreís, and finally phobia. If you think sailors are not superstitious check to see how many Navy ships anywhere in the world are leaving port today. Also look and see how many cargo ships are entering or leaving ports today. Cruise ships are about the only main exception for this rule. I checked and 3 different ships are pulling into Cozumel today.

If you remember I did a special issue on the last Friday the 13th about the legend of the HMS Friday. Well, it is totally made up, but it goes to show how badly sailors feel about certain things.

The earliest know reference to the superstition dates to 1869 and a biography of Gioachino Rossini. He regarded both Fridays and the number 13 as bad. He died Friday November 13th. Thus the fear was born. So since sailors are just a tad bit superstitious they picked up on the new phobia.
I personally have had good luck on these days. December 13th 1991 the Navy Exam results were posted on our ship, I was advanced to E5. So, good stuff does happen on today.

Starting Monday and continuing on for a few weeks I will take a look at national navies. I will do a brief history of each one. Cover some famous ships, battles, and leaders. Also sprinkled in during this time I might cover a major battle or two that happened on a specify day. So stay tuned.