Symbolism and Imagery

During a peer group chat, I was inspired to create a mood board based on superstitions at sea; this is by no means definitive, as there is so much symbolism and imagery involved in the subject. But having a visual reference is incredibly useful. I have been doing lots of reading the past few weeks and feeling my head swim with the enormity of the task- trying to decipher academic psychology papers that hold immense interest but are also somewhat over my head in a scientific way.

Having a play with maps and doodles

To clear my head, I decided to make a visual timeline of what I know about superstition and its history. Then I thought the timeline could be in the form of a map, and after thinking of maps, a globe of superstitions at sea came to mind. This is fun for me to do along the journey. There is plenty of visual information, and I need to take a break from reading and writing. It makes writing more manageable for me to step away from it for a while, have a bit of a play and then return to researching and writing.

I have discovered a lot of symbolism and imagery associated with superstitions at sea. An A-Z of nautical superstitions could be a good little booklet to go with my map.

While plotting superstitious sketches and diagrams on my timeline I decided to search for ocean currents to make the sea more of a feature. I came across this superb page; which shows ocean conditions in real time.

earth :: a global map of wind, weather, and ocean conditions

This would make a quite fantastic backdrop to an immersive exhibition based on superstitions. It’s astonishing what you can find when you’re not looking for it.

Sounds

I took a look for superstitious sea shanties to add the poetic words to my map, and during the search found ‘Portsmouth’ composed by Vaughn Williams. This would be great to use, as sounds for its name alone, it is a super catchy jig. Mike Oldfield did a version- but the fiddle version very much speaks of the sea. I considered emailing Ernst Stolz to ask permission to use his beautifully played rendition, and have put that off in favour of finding a Portsmouth Fiddler who may be willing to play and let me record.

Portsmouth – Traditional tune (Dancing Master) – YouTube

Another sound I came across whilst walking was the haunting sounds of seagulls. This reverberating call of seagulls is synonymous with life near the sea. Sea birds also have superstitious meanings; there is not only the legendary albatross, gulls were thought to carry the souls of sailors lost at sea. To see three gulls flying together overhead indicated an omen of death. I need to get out again and try to capture an audio recording of the gulls and an audio recording of the sea.

I am hoping to interview a couple of people about their superstitions at sea, but am well aware this may not be possible.

Shipping Forecast

Humber-Thames-Dover-Wight-Portland-Plymouth

The story of this radio program starts in the 1850s with a man named Admiral Robert FitzRoy. He was the captain of the Beagle, the ship that brought Charles Darwin to the Galapagos

Worried that people might associate his predictions with some kind of esoteric witchcraft or superstition, FitzRoy avoided the term prophecy in favor of forecast, and coined the phrase “weather forecast.” He delivered his forecasts by telegraph around the United Kingdom, where signal flags were hoisted in harbors to warn ships heading out to sea…‘

I have contacted the BBC to ask permission to use historical and modern day recordings of the shipping forecast.

1:09 minutes in; Shipping Forecast – 14/02/2025 – BBC Sounds

Interestingly this recording is female, which has given me more ideas considering the historic taboo of women at sea.

A modern day Jonah?

Kayaker is swallowed by a whale in 2025, just as I am researching symbolism. He is ‘lucky‘ to be unharmed, but we can see how creatures of the sea could instil fear and superstition in the lives of sailors gone past, and to this day.

Kayaker swallowed by whale recalls feeling ‘slimy texture’ in its mouth – BBC News