Quay Side Folklore

The customs, superstitions, and oral lore of dockworkers and waterside communities, the shore counterpart to shipboard tradition. It covers beliefs and rituals around launching and naming a ship, the dread of beginning a voyage on a Friday, the bad luck of changing a vessel’s name, and the protective figurehead. Quayside culture also held the work songs, slang, and rituals of stevedores, fishwives, and the sailortown trades. These beliefs are documented through folklore collection and port social history rather than any single instrument.