I
happened upon an interesting tidbit the other day. A chef’s hat
(that tall white one) is known as a toque. The usual design is
said to have one hundred folds, and legend is that each fold represents
one of the ways to cook an egg.
Now
if you were to look up that idea, you would likely find famous
culinary names such as Jacques Pepin and Alain Ducasse admitting
their familiarity with the claim. You would also find that depending
on who’s doing the counting, there are well over one hundred ways
to cook an egg.
Still,
the idea itself is a fascinating note, and it brought to mind
some of the interesting thoughts and claims I have seen over time.
Stop
signs were originally yellow. Apparently red was considered from
the beginning, but most of the materials available for making
the signs were known to fade over time so yellow won the day.
Eventually, red became the norm once fade-resistant-enamel could
be produced in that color.
Greenland
Sharks are believed to possibly live for up to five hundred years.
Green
Eggs and Ham was produced on a bet. Dr. Suess was challenged
to produce a book containing less than fifty words.
Only
one letter doesn’t appear in any of the names of the fifty states
of America. It’s the letter q.
I’m
going to stop with those. There are plenty of others out there.
Do your own search.
But
the fun is that if you can come up with a subject, chances are
good there’s some surprise and mystery out there. And the mystery
may be that facts could occasionally be fiction.
In
February of 1748, the schooner Lady Lovibond was wrecked and all
aboard were killed. The tragedy took place off the coast of England,
in the English Channel.
And
tragedy is a good word, since legend has it a love triangle may
have been in play. The cruise was celebratory in nature. The captain
had just married, and along with his bride, the passengers included
wedding guests setting off on a honeymoon voyage to Portugal.
Unfortunately for all aboard, the first mate had eyes for the
bride as well. He took control of the boat’s helm and steered
it into an area called Goodwin Sands, where it sank.
Fifty
years later, two vessels claimed to witness the Lady Lovibond
at sea in the area. One reported almost striking a three-masted
schooner. A variety of sightings, usually coming in increments
of fifty years, have included three-masted boats moving or breaking
apart, though no wreckages have ever been found. One crew apparently
thought it was viewing a current ship in trouble and sent out
rescue boats.
Goodwin
Sands is a famous area near the Straits of Dover. It has a claim
as one of the most dangerous areas for sailors, with more than
2,000 wrecks believed to have occurred in this location near a
heavily trafficked shipping lane.
Couple
of interesting little troubles with the Lady Lovibond tale. First,
there are no factual records of the ship. Seems no one can even
prove it existed. No one can find any authentic documentation
from the ships and crews that supposedly glimpsed it over time.
Second, when it comes to any recorded versions of the story, the
first one known is found in a source from 1924, almost two hundred
years after it supposedly was wrecked.
Many
investigations seem to believe that the story was created by the
journalist for that 1924 article. Some theories tie the date (near
Valentine’s Day) to the romantic tragedy (the wedding), toss in
maritime legend (bad luck for a woman to be on a ship), and all
the strings are woven together for creating the legend.
But
is there some truth involved? The ship that almost collided with
the Lady Lovibond was the Edenbridge. Apparently, its captain’s
log reports a schooner with three masts. While not specifically
naming the Lady Lovibond, the incident took place fifty years
to the day from the time of the supposed disaster.
There
is no question that Goodwin Sands is one of the most treacherous
nautical areas in the world. That’s a fact. The Lady Lovibond?
Well, people do love believing a good ghost story.
We
all have things that we believe are fascinating to know.