No Bananas!
June 19, 2006
If I were the producer of the TV show Fear Factor, I’d skip all the tired bug and guts eating stunts and instead have my contestants walk onto a charter fishing boat with bananas in their lunch coolers. Then, I’d just sit back and watch the fireworks.
In case you’re unaware, bananas on fishing boats are considered bad luck and most skippers take this superstition very, very seriously.
Case in point, a few years back, I took a ride aboard a party boat out of Half Moon Bay and, before we left the dock, the skipper instructed the deckhand to search everybody’s lunch for bananas. All the offending fruit that was discovered was left ashore.
I’ve also seen banana muffins and loaves of banana bread tossed over the side and full containers of Banana Boat sunscreen confiscated and thrown to the fishes. Some captains also get very edgy if they find out somebody had banana pancakes for breakfast or is wearing banana-flavored lip balm or Fruit of the Loom underwear. In some cases, they won’t let you on the boat if they find out this information before the trip.
So, just where does all this banana-induced fear come from anyway? Well, that’s kinda the funny part. Nobody really knows. Just about any boat owner or skipper you ask will have a different answer for you.
Some say the superstition got started back in the early days of sailing when mariners crossed the oceans in vessels that were overloaded and not particularly sea-worthy to begin with. It is said that when those boats went down, all that would be left on the surface would be bananas, causing people to believe that they were bad luck. My big question, however, is what if the boat didn’t have the yellow fruit aboard?
Others believe that the oil from bananas is a fish repellant and when it gets on your hands, the fish won’t eat your lure after you touch it. But upon further review, I found that a huge tackle manufacturer makes plastic worms impregnated with banana scent. Hmmmm…
Yet another story suggests that early trans-Atlantic seafarers often stopped for supplies in the tropics and would buy fruit from the locals. Hiding in the cases of bananas were tarantula spiders, snakes and assorted other unwelcome stowaways that would cause obvious problems aboard a vessel. This one makes a little more sense, yet I’m sure those old crusty mariners who didn’t bathe for weeks already had plenty of vermin crawling all over them.
Some also say bananas carried in the holds of old vessels would ferment and give off methane gas, which, when trapped below decks, could kill people. Plausible, I guess, but it seems kinda unlikely. I’ve also heard that bananas used to be shipped on the fastest boats so they would avoid spoilage. Because the boats sailed so quickly, the fishing off of them was said to be poor. I have a problem with that as well since fish like dorado, tuna and billfish like to eat stuff that’s being trolled at 10 or more knots.
So, there you have it — there is absolutely no scientific documentation that bananas are the evil omens of impending nautical disaster, but, just in case, I always leave the yellow fruit at home. No sense drawing the ire of your crew – and, maybe worse…
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