Many charter fishing boat crews have steadfast
restrictions about bringing bananas on the boat.
In fact, they'll return to the dock to purge the
offending fruit [source: ESPN]. Some charters go
so far as to prohibit Banana Boat brand sunscreen
or Banana Republic brand clothes onboard.
Fishermen have even been known to object
to Fruit of the Loom underwear (one sport fisher
claimed he's treated wearers to wedgies and
then cut the labels out) [source: LA Times].
Oddly enough, the Fruit of the Loom graphic doesn't
even have a banana on it, and some say the banana
was left off because of this very superstition
[source: Brincefield].
There are many theories on why people believe
bananas are bad luck for a boat. One superstition
is that boats carrying bananas don't catch fish.
The origin of this belief dates back to the Caribbean
trade of the 1700s. The wooden sailing boats of
that time had to move quickly to deliver bananas
before they spoiled, and fishermen had a hard
time trolling for fish on such fast-moving boats,
which is how the superstition came about.
Another superstition that originated during that
time is that bananas will cause a boat to sink.
This belief developed after many boats never made
it to their destinations, and all of the doomed boats
were carrying bananas. One of the creepier superstitions
is that banana cargo could actually kill a man.
In actuality, fermenting bananas do give off methane gas,
which could conceivably get trapped below deck
and kill any crew members unlucky enough to be
working in the hold. Another popular theory was
that venomous spiders hitched rides in bananas,
and once those bananas were onboard, the boat would
be host to any number of lethal critters. And then,
of course, there's the theory that banana peels
cause crew members to slip and fall on deck
[source: Attah].
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