Did you know?

 

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.

 

If you have any comments or questions, please e-mail me at Bob@inmybackpack.com