Stepping the mast

Elemiah's Atlantic Adventure
Ian Cole and Rosemary Bointon
Wed 4 Jun 2008 14:03
Yesterday I promised some photos of stepping the mast and here they are.

I thought you might be interested in the ritual of putting coins under the mast for luck when it is stepped. The ritual arose from the Romans who thought that a coin should be put under the tongue of a dead person in order to pay Charon the boatman who ferries the dead across the River Styxx to Hades. If a ship is lost at sea then the crew has some money to pay Charon. Some say the ritual goes back to the Greeks and the Phoenicians before them.

We have put a commemorative Canadian coin under each of Elemiah's masts. They both have a little picture of a beaver on them. We thought they would remind Elemiah of her origins when she sails far away.

Rosemary and Ian


JPEG image

JPEG image

JPEG image

JPEG image