Tom Starboard, sailors and mysteries

Pic; Morays Muse Tom Starboards Mysteries

When writing a piece on Robison Crusoe being cancelled or edited, we found the real life inspiration for Crusoe; Alexander Selkirk. Selkirk is a Scottish sailor whose remarkable story of survival on a deserted island inspired Daniel Defoe's classic novel. Born in 1676 in Lower Largo, Scotland, Selkirk led a tumultuous life marked by rebellion and adventure. After leaving home to escape ecclesiastical authorities, he joined a privateering expedition under William Dampier in 1703. Following a series of misfortunes, he found himself stranded on Mas a Tierra in the Juan Fernández archipelago for over four years. Alone and resourceful, Selkirk learned to adapt to his environment, hunting goats and foraging for fruits while establishing a daily routine to maintain his sanity. His rescue by Dampier in 1709 brought him back to society, but his extraordinary tale of resilience and solitude has continued to captivate imaginations for centuries, solidifying his legacy as a real-life castaway.

However ‘The Wanderings of Tom Starboard’ is often accompanied, You can find it in the British Library, you can find it on internet archives, and it seems he is a common myth in sea shanties.  However who is Tom Starboard? Is he is a sailor lost to time only existing in ballads and books on internet archives and old libraries? Or was he real . A wanderer seeking adventure?

In The Wanderings of Tom Starboard, Starboard escapes a treacherous situation aboard a ship, embarking on a perilous journey that takes him across uncharted waters. Throughout his adventures, Tom encounters a variety of challenges, from surviving tempestuous storms to navigating through treacherous reefs. His resourcefulness shines as he improvises tools and gathers supplies, echoing the survivalist themes found in other maritime narratives.

Tom’s adventures also intertwine with the natural world. He faces encounters with fierce sea creatures and navigates through breath taking landscapes, reflecting the awe and peril of life at sea. The vivid descriptions of his exploits not only entertain but also serve as cautionary tales about the unpredictable nature of maritime life.

While Selkirk’s experience was rooted in historical reality, Tom Starboard’s character is steeped in myth and legend. He embodies the spirit of the sailor whose story is often overshadowed by more famous figures like Selkirk and the fictional Robinson Crusoe. Yet, his presence in ballads and sea shanties speaks to a cultural appreciation for the unsung heroes of the ocean, reminding us of the countless sailors whose tales of bravery and adventure have faded into obscurity. 

There is a stereotype about sailors, that they are wanders looking for the unknown. Maybe this comes from the colonial stereotype of wanting discover gold or the exotic realms depicted in books. However, sea voyages in earlier centuries were fraught with high mortality rates and unpredictable dangers, making disappearances almost expected. The vast, un-tameable nature of the sea inspired both awe and fear, and sailors were often seen as expendable in the pursuit of imperial or exploratory goals. Even if they were not exploring , Sailors were simultaneously viewed as martyrs, with their losses accepted as part of the price for expansion and discovery. Over time, society shifted from romanticising these disappearances to acknowledging the harsh reality of maritime life. For people who love the seas. 

In regards to men of the sea, no working men have as many superstitions as the sailor have. Many sailors believed that bananas brought bad luck and were thought to cause disappearances of ships laden with them in the 1700s, while whistling onboard was believed to summon storms, tempting the wrath of sea gods. Women were seen as distracting bad omens, yet female figureheads were carved onto ships’ prows, believed to calm the waves (and also to note that another tradition is to consider ships as female, giving them a female pronoun). An albatross, seen as a good omen, was thought to hold a lost sailor's spirit, with killing one risking a ship’s doom, as famously recounted in The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. Setting off on Fridays, the day of Christ’s crucifixion, was avoided, while crossing fingers and placing a silver coin under the mast symbolised a plea for safe passage. A farewell of 'Fair winds and following seas' expressed hopes for a smooth voyage, reflecting the sailor’s respect for the unrelenting ocean. 

Besides, even past myths from history, seafaring is a very dangerous profession. Hundreds of deaths occur at sea and during maritime operations every year. Not only this, seafarers are at hazards such as storms and even heavy machinery.

So Tom Starboard, if you were real or a myth? In our opinion, whether a myth romanticising the sea or if a character in plays or a true wandering sailor, you had a dangerous job that was very romanticised.