#sea storms

[bookswithdenise]

A girl. A sea god. A world beneath the waves.

[apilgrimpassingby]

The Folklore of Sea Storms

A follow-up to yesterday's post. More weather lore is coming soon.

Storm Witches: These are exactly what they sound like; witches whose speciality is conjuring storms at sea. While there are some of these in England – such as Sarah Moore from Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, who made a living via a magical protection racket against sailors [1], and Nanny Scott from Sunderland, Durham, who sold good winds among other magical services [2] – the heartland of belief in them is Scotland. They were known in the Lowlands, such as the witches tried at North Berwick for conjuring a storm to kill King James by throwing a dead cat into the sea [3], and the Highlands, as in the case of Iain Garbh, Laird of Skye, and a famed hammer of witches, killed by a storm they called up [4]. But they were most famed and feared in the Orkneys and Shetlands, lonely islands where fishing was essential for life. Some notable storm witches of the Northern Isles were Janet Forsyth from Westray, who in reality was executed for witchcraft in 1627 but in folklore was freed from prison by her lover Benjamin Garrioch in 1629 [5], Scota Bess from Stronsay, who rose from the dead after being beaten with flails and thus was reburied in the local loch under turf, creating its only island, Mattie Black from Hoy, who sold good weather to sailors in the form of magically charged threads, Tulta from Dunrossness, who sank a ship in revenge for not carrying her [6] and Mina Baaba from the Shetland island of Papa, who drove away Spanish raiders with her gales in exchange for being given the neck of the fattest ox on the island at the next slaughter [7]. Reinforcing the idea that belief in them was driven by the islanders’ fear for their livelihood, their magic was specifically imagined as magic to sink ships – the standard description was that they would take a tub of water or milk, place a small wooden bowl in it and chant incantations to agitate the liquid until the bowl was overturned [8].

Storm Spirits: The most famous of these are mermaids – despite their positive reputation now, sightings of them were thought to herald storms or some other nautical disaster [9] and mermen were also thought to churn up the sea in revenge for injuries to their womenfolk [10]. The “injuries” bit was particularly emphasised in Shetland and Orkney lore – mermaids dying on land created storms at sea [11] and spilling the blood of a selkie (the famous seal people of the Northern Isles) into the sea will raise a tempest [12]. There were more storm spirits in those islands, such as the fin folk, faeries from beneath the sea, who took a bet with a man from Fetlar that he would not taste fresh fish before Yule, and stirred the sea when he took advantage of a sudden calm on Tammasmas E’en (20th December) – the man escaped, but lost several teeth and gained a severe scar on his forehead [13]. Storm spirits also made themselves known in Gaelic Scotland, as the Minch, the stretch of sea between Lewis and Harris and the Shiant Isles, is haunted by spirits called the Blue Men of the Minch, who cause storms and lure sailors overboard. They have long beards and blue skin and let ships go if the captain can beat them at a rhyming contest [14]. Unsurprisingly, there were storm spirits in Cornwall, at the opposite end of the British Isles to the Shetlands and its other bastion of maritime lore, in the form of the Hooper from Sennen Cove, named for making hooting sounds, who looked like a cloud full of sparks and was an omen of tempest [15]. Some spirits which did not cause storms can still accurately be called “storm spirits” – returning to the Shetlands, the water between Yell and Mainland was haunted by a sea monster called the Marool, a giant flaming fish with its head covered in eyes, which sang for joy during storms and devoured capsized ships, deriving its name from mareel, a Shetland dialect word for phosphorescent sea foam [16].

Storm Superstitions: Across the coasts of the Isles, whistling on a ship will cause storms [17], especially if done by a woman [18], while having a picture of a naked woman on a ship will ward off storms; hence, the profusion of naked women on prows. This one is particularly odd, since women generally feature as bad luck in nautical superstition – having a flesh-and-blood one on board was said to doom the voyage [19] – so perhaps it functioned like a gargoyle (malign spiritual power scaring away other malign spirits) or may be sailors were being characteristically lustful. In Cornwall, cats running around the house or agitations in milk are sea storm omens [20], as are porpoises in general, despite being common vehicles of saints [21].

Storms and Ghosts: Cornwall has plenty of this – the Lady of the Lantern is a ghost who walks along the rocks of St. Ives with a light on stormy nights, looking for her baby, who died in a shipwreck, the ghost of Rev. John Penneck in Hilary raises storms, and in general the ghosts of drowned sailors whisper in shipwrecks before storms [22].

Miscellaneous Sea Storm Lore: Noltland Castle in the Orkneys was home to a hogboon called Broonie, who pulled ships to safety during storms [23], and the Flannan Isles, a set of small islands off the Outer Hebrides, are the site of one of Britain’s most famous mysteries. Lighthouse keepers inexplicably disappeared here from the lighthouse here in 1900 after the head keeper, Joseph Moore, left for three weeks. There were no signs of a struggle or weapons touched, and the last journal entry read “storm ended. Sea calm. God is over all”; the storm was not seen by people on the mainland just twenty miles away [24].

Bibliography

Dee Dee Chainey, 2018, A Treasury of British Folklore: Maypoles, Mandrakes and Mistletoe, National Trust Books, pp.131-132

William Henderson, 1879, Notes on the folk-lore of the northern counties of England and the borders, Nichols & Sons, p.213

Marc Alexander, 2002, A Companion to the Folklore, Customs and Legends of Britian, Sutton Publishing Ltd., p.204

Jo Bourne et al., 2009, The Most Amazing Haunted & Mysterious Places in Britain, Reader’s Digest Association Ltd., p.243

Willow Winsham, 2023, Treasury of Folklore: Stars and Skies, Batsford, pp.129-131

Ernest Marwick, 1975, The Folklore of Orkney and Shetland, Batsford, pp.53-55

Marwick 1975 p.174

Marwick 1975 p.54

Chainey 2018 p.133

Katherine Briggs, 1976, A Dictionary of Fairies, Penguin Books Ltd., p.290

Marwick 1975 p.24

Briggs 1976 p.355

Marwick 1975 p.26

Alexander 2002 p.27

Briggs 1976 p.225

Briggs 1976 p.281

John Aubrey, 1682 (1881 reprint), Remaines of Gentilisme and Judaisme, Satchell, Peyton and Co: London, p.21

Henderson 1879 p.44

Chainey 2018 p.131

Chainey 2018 p.136

Tony Deane and Tony Shaw, 1975, The Folklore of Cornwall, Batsford, p.35

Deane and Shaw 1975 pp.103-108

Bourne et al. 2009 p.245

Jenny Randles, 1994, The Unexplained: Great Mysteries of the 20th Century, Anaya Publishers Ltd., p.9

[snargl-com]

Sea Storms and Pirates - Ruling the Waters with Fury

Dive into the world of mighty sea storms and pirate adventures! Discover how pirates and nature ruled the oceans in epic sea battles. The storms were their allies in the fight for control!

[foxgivenblank]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Diablo (Video Games) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Characters: Assassin (Diablo II), Meshif (Diablo series) Additional Tags: Minor Character Death, unnamed boat crew member is implied to be eaten, Boats and Ships, Storms, sea serpents, mention of demons, Whumptober 2022, Whumptober, Loss of time, Sea Monsters Series: Part 9 of Whumptober 2022 Summary:

No. 9 THE VERY NOISY NIGHT Sleeping in Shifts | Tossing and Turning | Caught in a Storm

Our hero continues to hunt down Diablo on his quest to release his brothers, but Hell follows in his wake. It has, interesting effects on the seas.

Travel between Acts 2 and 3 across the Twin Seas.

[jennybeanses]

Flashy Friday: Its Giant Hands

Flashy Friday: Its Giant Hands #constructs #flashyfriday #flashfiction #amwriting

Captain Egre stood, mouth agape on the starboard bow and uncertain how to proceed as the monstrous construct held the ship in place. The sea raged against the storm, powerful winds whipping and tearing the sail. Unmoved by the howling wind, unfazed by the torrents of rain, the construct had saved their lives, but to what end? And where had it even come from?   “Captain?” her first mate called…

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Sea Storms

by hedicine and sweetsummerstyles

Harry has a secret that he's keeping from his bandmates he is a merman. Liam goes fishing one day and catches him in the net and begs him not to tell. Liam has a kink for merpeople which is a problem since he is dating Louis, Harry's ex and Harry is dating Nick. It's a mess.

Words: 3674, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Fandoms: One Direction (Band)

Rating: Explicit

Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Categories: F/M, M/M

Relationships: Liam Payne/Harry Styles, Liam Payne/Louis Tomlinson, Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson, Liam Payne/Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson, Nick Grimshaw/Harry Styles, Briana Jungwirth/Louis Tomlinson, Harry Styles/Original Female Character(s), Cheryl Cole/Liam Payne

via AO3 works tagged 'Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson' https://ift.tt/2MXuMGE

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Flat commission

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Something Eats At me. Slowly Taking On Real Mean Shapes.

Sea Storms