Royal Musical Association Annual Conference

‘Flogging the dead horse’: ritual, tradition and music aboard nineteenth-century sailing ships

Sailors are known to be a superstitious lot, whose customs and traditions in a shipboard setting often reflect their willingness to put faith in the unknown to protect them from the perils of life at sea. Whether emblazoning their skin with animal tattoos to prevent them from drowning or engaging in the notorious ‘line-crossing ceremony’ on the event of the ship crossing the equator, sailors of the nineteenth century carried out all manner of ritual and custom in the hope of courting favour with the tempestuous sea. One of the ways that they did this was through music, which was used to accompany set practices aboard ship – including the famous ‘flogging’ or ‘paying off’ the dead horse, making journeys across areas of nautical significance (crossing the equator or rounding Cape Horn) and setting off on their final…