%% Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1645694855069915200
%% Please do not replace or remove without starting a new thread.
%%
[[quoteright:350:[[Literature/TheRimeOfTheAncientMariner https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mariner3.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350: "Yea, slimy things did crawl with legs upon on the slimy sea."]]
%%
->''Strange truths are told of the waves and what lies beneath. The lies are even stranger.''
-->-- ''VideoGame/FallenLondon''

Sailors from [[OlderThanTheyThink time immemorial]] have had their own brand of folklore. Much of it is borrowed from that of landlubbers, Myth/NorseMythology and Myth/GreekMythology, for instance, but sailors have had their own unique twists. These types of tales are what they [[OralTradition sang to each other]] during long, boring voyages. They included tales of great deeds, quirky superstitions, fantastic creatures and day-to-day life on the sea. Sailor lore also has such things as haunted islands and accursed ships. Sometimes sailor tales were sung rather than told, especially as sea chanties provided rhythm to help with their work.

There are a few fairly good compendiums of nautical folklore. One of the older ones is ''Weird Tales from Northern Seas'' by Jonas Lauritz Idemil Lie. Two more modern ones include ''[[http://www.amazon.com/Folklore-Sea-Maritime-Horace-Beck/dp/0913372366/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1284181338&sr=8-1 Folklore and the Sea]]'' by Horace Beck and ''[[http://www.amazon.com/Seafaring-Lore-Legend-Peter-Jeans/dp/0071486569/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1284181497&sr=1-1 Seafaring Lore and Legend]]'' by Peter Jeans. By fortunate coincidence, the photo of Horace Beck looks ''exactly'' like the sort of FatherNeptune that would be [[TheStoryteller telling these stories]].

See also TropesAtSea.

----
!!Works based on (or including elements of) Nautical Folklore:
* ''Art/CartaMarina'', by Olaus Magnus
* ''Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean''

!!Nautical Folklore provides examples of:

* AbductionIsLove: A lot of mortals marry selkies and mermaids by kidnapping them and hiding the MacGuffin that they need (with selkies it is always the skin, with mermaids it can be something else like a comb).
* BloodMagic: In some parts of the West Indies, at least until recently, it was common to use animal blood to christen a fishing boat. Most of the Western World, however, is satisfied with Champagne.
* BornUnlucky: If the bottle fails to break during the christening of a ship.
* CatsAreMagic: Having a cat aboard was thought of as bad luck, or good luck, [[DependingOnTheWriter depending on whom you ask]]. Also, in some Caribbean myths, [[TheFairFolk mer-people]] can transform into cats.
* CrossoverCosmology: Due to sailors from all over the world mixing more with each other than with landlubbers. Two of the biggest figures are [[Myth/ClassicalMythology King Neptune]] and DavyJones.
* {{Curse}}: Sailors had a lot of stories and superstitions about them, and went to great pains to avoid them.
* DavyJones: The resident [[SatanicArchetype Devil]] of these types of stories. Depictions differ, but he's almost always an evil, menacing, and powerful seafarer of ethereal roots. Davy Jones is the eponymous owner of [[{{Hell}} Davy Jones' Locker]], where it is said that the souls of all bad sailors go to when they drown. Of course, it's located at [[EldritchOceanAbyss the bottom of the ocean]], sometimes specifically around the equator.
* DoNotTauntCthulhu: Numerous variations.
** Don't set out on Friday. Don't set out on Thursday, either: That is [[Myth/NorseMythology Thor's day]] and you don't want to offend the guy in charge of storms.
** Do not take a murderer, a debtor or a [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking woman]] aboard. Or a banana, especially if you're going fishing: it's bad luck.
** Don't build a ship out of black walnut, either. Black walnut was a common wood used in building expensive coffins in the U.S., [[TemptingFate and it's not a good idea to build your ship out of coffinwood.]]
** Never bring a priest is Scandinavian superstition. There are powers and deities that govern lakes and oceans, and you don't want to risk offending them by having a man of God aboard.
** Don't rename a ship. And never name a ship after a vessel that had bad luck -- which is why nobody names their ship ''Titanic''.
** Heck, just stay on shore.
* TheDrunkenSailor: Generally the cause of the folklore to start with. A {{tall tale}} of tall ships over a tall draught of rum.
* DueToTheDead: US Midshipmen place coins in the grave of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Paul_Jones John Paul Jones]]. Presumably he will reward them with a due share of Badassery.
* EldritchAbomination: The whole ocean, just to start with, and also home to more.
* EldritchOceanAbyss: Scary things are found in deeper waters.
* EthnicMagician: Supposedly all Finns (a word which, at the time, was used to mean what we today call Sami) are Wizards.
* TheFairFolk: Close cousins of the mer folk and sometimes similar in behavior.
* FatherNeptune: Who else is fit to be TheStoryteller?
* FlyingDutchman: And several other {{Ghost Ship}}s.
* GripingAboutGremlins: An obscure mythological creature that possibly is the precursor to modern gremlins is the "sea gobelin". This solitary goblin sets up shop on a ship, tangles ropes, misplaces things and scares sailors. Actually seeing the gobelin is a powerful portent of doom.
* {{Heaven}}: Fiddler's Green. Where good sailors or the virtuous who have drowned go to when they die, rather than being a [[FluffyCloudHeaven sky utopia]] on [[SolidClouds clouds]], it's instead a green meadow, lush with every single kind of the most beautiful flora one can lay eyes on. That's where the "Green" part comes from, the "Fiddlers'" part comes from the main feature of said paradise -- Fiddlers who play eternally and dancers who never tire. If there exists an oceanic equivalent of [[{{God}} the Lord Himself]], then expect him or at least his [[OurAngelsAreDifferent cohorts]] to be seen here.
* {{Hell}}: Davy Jones' Locker. In works of a more comedic bent, it may or may not be a [[VisualPun literal locker]], but in more serious portrayals, it could simply be a submerged cave filled with shipwrecks. In any case, don't expect any [[FireAndBrimstoneHell fire]], given that this is [[FireWaterJuxtaposition the sea]] we're talking about, especially since some use the phrase "Davy Jones' Locker" as simply synonymous with the bottom of the ocean. (Similarly to how Hell is usually seen as being underground.) And worst of all, as stated by the name, it belongs to none other than DavyJones himself...
* {{Hubris}}:
** Do not give a merchantman a grandiose name. That is TemptingFate. Passenger liners and clipper ships were often an exception to this, having names like ''Lightning'', or even ''Sovereign of the Seas''. Though the clipper that lasted longest was just named ''Cutty Sark'', rather then something grandiose (it means "short skirt", a reference to a Scottish legend about a man who saw some witches dancing, [[MaleGaze was particularly taken with]] the [[HotWitch young pretty one]] wearing the "cutty sark", [[PervertRevengeMode and barely escaped with his life]]).
** Warship names, on the other hand, invoke this; many were (and still are) given grandiose and ferocious-sounding names like ''Victory'', ''Warrior'', or even truly [[TemptingFate fate-tempting]] ones like ''Invincible'' and ''Indefatigable''. Notably, both HMS ''Indefatigable'' and HMS ''Invincible'' were destroyed at the Battle of Jutland. Then again, ships of those names have been used in combat since without being sunk or even sustaining significant damage.
* InterspeciesRomance: There are several stories of these between a mortal and a mermaid or selkie. They never seem to work out.
* IOweYouMyLife: According to one story a Mermaid was stranded on a beach and found by a kindly Scottish boatbuilder. She offered him a wish and his wish was that no boat he ever built would ever sink. According to the story, his descendants are still building boats and are still famed for their craftsmanship. Mer-people can be [[BlueAndOrangeMorality kinda]] [[TheFairFolk odd]], but they can know how to pay a debt and respond when treated kindly.
* IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy: One [[SelkiesAndWereseals selkie]] fell in love with a fisherman and married him, and unusually for an InterspeciesRomance with fey creatures remained HappilyMarried without running off to sea. However a storm came and he almost drowned so she shapeshifted back to a seal, knowing that in doing so she could never be with him again.
* TheJinx: Sailors have their own name for The Jinx: The Jonah, who'll have to be cast overboard for the ship to stay afloat. People especially seen as the Jonah, and therefore generally not welcome, are women and religious workers. The latter are thought to offend the spirits of the seas, who abide by their own rules.
* KrakenAndLeviathan: Giant sea monsters that make ships look tiny.
* LivingFigurehead: In folklore of Northern Europe, there exists the klabautermann, a water spirit that protects the boat it travels with. It was said to either reside in a statue tied to the mast or within the figurehead.
* LordOfTheOcean: Even pirates fear King Triton's wrath.
* MacGuffin: Amongst seafaring cultures, it was common belief that a child born "in the caul" (that is, with the amniotic sac still attached and covering his/her head), [[BornLucky is lucky and cannot drown]]. In fact, these membranes were sometimes [[SolidGoldPoop preserved and sold to sailors for a small fortune]], because the sailors would carry them for luck and protection at sea. Now a ForgottenTrope in much of the world, as many times the amniotic sac is ruptured artificially by the doctor or midwife. It's still a popular folklore in parts of the South and among the homebirth crowd. Also has some justification in that a labor and birth with a nice squishy layer of water [[note]]Technically, [[{{Squick}} fetal urine]][[/note]] cushioning the contractions is usually MUCH easier than one without, especially in the case of artificially rupturing the membranes.
* MerTropes: Merfolk, the legendary half fish, half human people that live in the deep.
* OceanMadness:
** One popularly-supposed phenomenon is that sailors afflicted by "calenture" would look at the sea, imagine it to be land and jump over the side.
** There are various tales of a sailor who would bring the [[{{Gonk}} most unattractive]] [[AbhorrentAdmirer woman]] he could find along on his voyages (to serve as a cook, or whatever). When she [[SituationalSexuality began to look good to him]], he knew he'd been at sea for too long and that it was time to head home (or at least to the nearest port).
* OurGhostsAreDifferent: Dolphins and albatrosses are the reincarnated souls of dead sailors. [[Literature/RimeOfTheAncientMariner Do not kill either of them]].
* PirateBooty: Often with a [[BlackMagic curse]] on it, naturally enough.
* {{Psychopomp}}:
** Mother Carey lures sailors back to life at sea like a siren would, but takes care of storm petrels and giant petrels, respectively known as Mother Carey's Chickens and Mother Carey's Geese, which are thought to be the souls of lost sailors.
** Some birds are attributed this role. Swallows, for example, are said to carry the souls of the drowned to heaven. In fact, while sailors will get Swallow tattoos as a symbol signifying their experience, the tattoos are also said to guarantee safe passage to heaven should the sailor drown.
* RedSkyTakeWarning: ''Red skies at night, sailor's delight. Red skies at morning, sailor take warning.''
* RibbonCuttingCeremony: Any mishap that occurs during a ship's launching ceremony -- especially if the ceremonial champagne bottle does not break -- will be taken as a bad omen or sign that the ship is cursed.
* SatanicArchetype: DavyJones is the Devil for seafarers.
* SeaMonster: Here there be mythical and fearsome sea-creatures. Unexplored regions are full of them.
* SelkiesAndWereseals: Selkies (also known as silkies, selchies and seal wives) are mythological creatures that can become human by taking off their seal skins, and can return to seal form by putting it back on.
* SettingAsACharacter: Sailors and sea stories the world over often refer to and treat the ship itself as though it were a living thing, possessing things like a soul, a temperament, a set of behavioral quirks, and so on.
* ShapeshiftingLover: Mermaids and Selkies (seal people) often do this. Be careful about this, though; they might run away. This is not least the case when they became "lovers" because a mortal stole a Selkies skin or a Mermaid's cap thus [[AbductionIsLove forcing "love"]]. One Selkie was perfectly happy in her human form, and she only turned seal again to save her fisherman-husband when he was caught in a storm. Knowing she [[IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy could never go back to him if she became a seal again]].
* TurtleIsland: Fish, whales, or turtles (mostly turtles) big enough to be mistaken for islands or even continents.
* WoodenShipsAndIronMen: The Age of Sail and its story-telling conventions has become the genre in itself, or if it's not fully a genre, it's the next closest thing.
* YouCantFightFate: If a sailor is pulled overboard by a wave, that's a sign that "the sea will have its own". In fact, learning to ''swim'' [[TooDumbToLive was considered]] TemptingFate.
----