#sailors superstition

A sailor’s heaven for those with 50 years of sea service - less for those stout of heart and loyal to shipmates- it was the final destination for old sailors who’d cut their painter and gone aloft for the last time. The Fiddler’s green is described by the Century Dictionary (1889) as “ […] a name given by sailors to their dancehouses and other places of frolic on shore; sailor’s paradise.”

At Fiddler’s Green, where seamen true
When here they’ve done their duty
The bowl of grog shall still renew
And pledge to love and beauty.

- The Dog Fiend; Or, Snarleyyow , by Captain Marryat 1856 (x)

It was said that upon death a sailor’s soul entered a gull, in which form he flew to the South Pole and entered Fiddler’s Green through an open hatch. There he settled in peace, where […] the drinks and smokes are logged but never paid, there are pubs on every corner and steaks and plum duff every day. “ There is a fiddle that never stops playing and dancers that never tire, here are all the good-looking women of the world to fill the pipes and glasses of the sailors and listen to their yarn and give them all their love.

The Paradise for them.