title: Don't Shoot the Albatross!: Nautical Myths and Superstitions
author:  Jonathan Eyers 
description: Jonathan Eyers last went to sea on a Friday in a boat with thirteen letters to its name and women on the passenger list, but he somehow managed to survive. He is the author of <i>How to Snog a Hagfish!: Disgusting Things in the Sea</i> and <i>Final Voyage: The World's Worst Maritime Disasters</i>, both published by Adlard Coles Nautical, and the children's novel <i>The Thieves of Pudding Lane</i> (Bloomsbury).
zlib_text: Dedication
  
   _For my parents, who always believed this was possible._
  
   _And for R.K., always._
  
  Contents
  
  [ _Cover_](index_split_031.html#filepos580524)
  
  [ _Title Page_](9780062686688_Titlepage.xhtml#title)
  
   _Dedication_
  
  Prologue: Spain
  
  Part I: Tangier 1956
  
  > One: Alice
  
  > Two: Lucy
  
  > Three: Alice
  
  > Four: Lucy
  
  > Five: Alice
  
  > Six: Lucy
  
  > Seven: Alice
  
  Part II
  
  > Eight: Lucy
  
  > Nine: Alice
  
  > Ten: Lucy
  
  Part III
  
  > Eleven: Alice
  
  > Twelve: Lucy
  
  > Thirteen: Alice
  
  > Fourteen: Lucy
  
  > Fifteen: Alice
  
  > Sixteen: Lucy
  
  > Seventeen: Alice
  
  > Eighteen: Lucy
  
  > Nineteen: Alice
  
  > Twenty: Lucy
  
  Epilogue: Spain
  
   _Acknowledgments_
  
   _About the Author_
  
   _Copyright_
  
   _About the Publisher_
  
  Prologue
  
  Spain
  
   **I** T TAKES THREE MEN TO PULL THE BODY FROM THE WATER.
  
  It is a man—that much they can tell, but little else. The birds have been at
  him by then, perhaps attracted by the glinting piece of silver that adorns his
  tie. But that’s only magpies, they remind themselves. _He must have 