Despite the depictions of pirates we've seen where they look as if nothing could ever frighten them, that was not the case in reality. Even pirates had their own superstitions that scared them half to death.
No women on board
Pirates would always say that women on a ship brought nothing but trouble and never allowed representatives of the fairer sex to travel with them. Anyone who violated this pirate law was punished.
The seafaring bandits believed that their very ship was a woman, as such they always gave them female names, while there was always a statue of a half-naked maiden on board.
And if a woman were to ever come aboard, this was always a sure sign if great troubles to pirates.
No sailing out to open sea on certain days
Pirates and their repaired ships were prohibited from sailing out to open sea on Thursday, Friday and the first Monday of the month of April.
Friday was the day when Jesus was put on the cross, while it was on the first Monday of April that Cain killed his brother Abel, according to the Bible. Even though pirates cared not for the other divine norms, they did follow the superstition of not sailing on the forbidden days.
Thursday was also seen as unfit for sailing into open sea because the day fell under the patronage of the Scandinavian god Thor, god of thunder and storms.
Never say certain words
The crew of a pirate ship never said "See you soon" or "Good luck" when parting, believing that this would bring them misfortune.
But if someone were to say these words by accident, the only way they could neutralize the bad luck was through blood - the person in turn would take a punch in the face.
Gold brought good luck
When crossing the equator, pirates would always pierce their ear and put on a golden earring in order to attract riches to their ship.
