舌尖上的航海丨第18集 “老軌”與“香檳酒”的故事

船員對船上輪機長俗稱“老軌”。

年過半百的杭屹“老軌”不吸煙不喝酒，業(yè)務精通，有船上“好男人”和機倉“神探”的綽號。經過“聞、聽、看”功夫，毫厘不差的找出機器的毛病，是公司接新船的“專業(yè)戶”。

杭屹“老軌”平時滴酒不沾，如何與香檳酒套上近乎。

“老軌”與香檳酒結緣是第一次接新船開始的。

一年，杭屹“老軌”來到歐洲一家著名造船廠按艘新船。

船廠按慣例舉行了隆重的輪船命名下水典禮。

塢臺周圍彩旗飄飄，氣球高懸，一陣高昂雄壯的軍樂聲中，一位身著盛裝雍容華貴的女子，緩步走向船頭，舉起盛滿香檳的酒瓶，在人們陣陣掌聲和歡呼聲中，猛地砸向船頭，頓時，瓶碎酒濺，醇香的酒味彌漫四周……。

這場面，杭屹“老軌”過去在影視片里見過。首次親眼目睹這精彩的場面，把手都拍紅了，久久不能忘懷。

人們稱這種儀式叫“擲瓶禮”。

事后，杭屹“老軌”了解了“擲瓶禮”的來歷。

科學技術落后的古代，航海是既艱辛又危險的職業(yè)，海難事故頻發(fā)。每逢遇到海灘時，船上存活的人只能將求救信和遺囑，裝在封好的酒瓶里，拋向大海，任其漂流。希望其他船和岸上人發(fā)現(xiàn)。

所以，每當海上起風暴或船沒有按期歸來，船員的親人和家屬，紛紛聚集岸邊祈禱和期盼親人平安歸來。

但是，殘酷的事實往往令人失望。偶爾能見到令人心碎的“漂流瓶”，卻不見親人歸來。

久而久之，為了祈求平安，人們希望海上不再有讓人心碎的“漂流瓶?！?/p>

人們決定，在新船下水時，將盛有香檳的“漂流瓶”砸碎在船頭，讓醇香的香檳，“布滿船頭，驅邪消災”，海難永不出現(xiàn)……。

這是帶有濃郁宗教色彩的古老的船舶下水儀式。

如今，海難不再頻發(fā)，拋砸香檳酒的“擲瓶禮”卻保留了下來。

拋砸香檳酒的大都由出自名門望族身份顯赫的女子執(zhí)行，號稱“教母”。1930年下水的超級豪華郵輪“伊麗莎白”號的“教母”為伊麗莎白女王。她的女兒卡洛琳公主則是“伊麗莎白Ⅱ號”的“教母”。摩洛哥葛利絲王妃在“海洋女神”號下水儀式上執(zhí)行了“擲瓶禮”，英國的戴安娜王妃生前為“皇帝公主”號拋撒了香檳酒……。

首次接船，杭屹“老軌”收獲不小，并特意收藏了一瓶“香檳酒”做為紀念。

隨著接新船次數(shù)的增加，杭屹“老軌”家里那只特別的酒柜擺滿了各式各樣的“香檳酒?！?/p>

“香檳酒”成了杭屹“老軌”的“寶貝”，常在人們面前“顯擺”。

但是，有次，一位船員的提問使杭屹“老軌”陷入了尷尬：“為什么每次執(zhí)行“擲瓶禮”的都是女子？”

杭屹“老軌”沉默了；是啊，執(zhí)行“擲瓶禮”都是女子，這是咋回事？

終于，杭屹“老軌”去接另艘新船時找到了答案。

這是一個與海上“浮筒”和造船工匠的“典故”有關。

古時候，造船工匠把造船比做“塑造”一尊“女神”；修長的船身如同女子纖細的腰肢，船殼被涂抹脃彩斑爛的油漆，是“雍容華貴”的衣裳，連敦實厚重的船尾也被當做女子富有性感的“臀部。”

“女神”在大海里迎風擊浪，常有一群男子圍繞在她的身邊“伺候左右。”每當“女神”遠航歸來駛入港口，總是朝著浮筒前行。這些浮筒是群充滿激情的“男孩”（男孩：英文bory與英文浮筒bury諧音）熱情地排上去，向“女神”問寒問暖，熱情異常。

所以，航海習慣上，人們把船舶“性別”定為“陰性”。稱呼船為“她”，而不能用“他”。同類型船舶不能稱“兄弟船”而要稱“姊妹船”。

鑒于歷史上沿襲的習慣，至今，全世界新船出廠的處女航，都是邀請女性為其命名和“擲砸香檳酒?！?/p>

起初，這種習俗只在西方國家盛行，后來，傳到中國和其他國家。

“擲瓶禮”的習俗已經沿襲了幾個世紀。

“老軌”與“香檳酒”的故事，使杭屹“機倉神探”的頭銜上加了個“香檳酒”“老軌”美名！

The crew of the ship referred to their chief engineer as “Old Mr Carpenter”, or just

“Carpenter” for short.

Mr Carpenter was over half a century old, but he never smoked and never drank, and

was proficient and concise when finishing up his tasks. He was also one of the best crew

members and the best detective onboard, and could figure out anything that was wrong with

the ship’s engine by simply looking, listening, and smelling the machine. Because of his

perfect track record, he was occasionally sent to help out with new vessels and captains by

the shipping company.

Even though Carpenter didn’t drink, he became indisputably tied to champagne after his

first assignment on a brand new ship.

Carpenter was sent to Europe to fix engines on a newly constructed cargo ship. Like

many other ship factories, Mr Carpenter shipyard held a grand naming and launching

ceremony for their brand new vessel. Fluttering flags and floating balloons of all colors hung

above the docks, majestic ceremonious music played from the speakers, and an elegant

woman wearing a long, beautiful dress walked slowly towards the bow, lifted a bottle of

champagne above her shoulders, and turned around to face the audience. In an instant, she

slammed the bottle down on the floor, smashed it open, and allowed the champagne to splash

and sprinkle all over the deck.

Mr Carpenter’s mouth gaped wide open, his eyes full of surprise. He had only ever seen

such a scene in movies before. When snapped out of his wonder, he applauded along with the

other sailors until his palms turned red.

Smashing a bottle of champagne is a consequential aspect of ceremonial ship launching

parties. After witnessing it for the first time, Mr Carpenter searched through many nautical

libraries to look for the origins of this fascinating tradition.

Before the development of modern technology, seafaring was a dangerous and strenuous

profession, and shipwrecks and accidents were extremely commonplace. Whenever sailors

were met with a vicious storm, their last hope of contacting their families was through writing

down a message, folding it up and putting it into a glass bottle, and tossing it out to sea in the

hopes that it would somehow reach their loved ones.

So whenever a group of sailors didn’t return from a long voyage, their family members

would gather on the coast, hoping and praying for the beloved seafarers to come home.

Nevertheless, the ocean was sometimes unforgiving. Occasionally, some of the sailors’

loved ones would come across a floating bottle on the beach, which only signaled that the

seafarers had perished at sea.

Eventually, family members no longer wished to see floating bottles on the beach as

they were always the bearer of bad news. They decided that each time a new ship set out to

the ocean, the sailors on board needed to smash a glass bottle of champagne on the deck in

order to ward off any bad luck or disaster.

This superstition has now become a tradition, and even though shipwrecks and deadly

disasters are now rare, people maintained the ceremonial ship launching activities. The bottle

smashing ceremony became a christening of the ship, and was usually performed by ladies of

prominent families, sometimes called the Godmothers of the ships that they’ve blessed. For

example, the Godmother of the 1930 luxury liner the Elizabeth was none other than Queen

Elizabeth of the United Kingdom. Her daughter, Princess Caroline, was the Godmother of

Elizabeth II. Princess Diana performed the christening of the cruise liner Royal Princess, and

as recently as 2016, Princess Charlene of Monaco was revealed as the Godmother of Regent’s

newest ship, the Seven Seas Explorer.

Carpenter was delighted to have participated in such a wonderful ceremony, and

specifically kept a bottle of champagne as a souvenir. He brought it with him wherever he

went, and spoke time and time again of the blissful scene that he witnessed.

But such stories came with a handful of skeptics. Once, a shiphand looked at Carpenter

with a confused expression on his face, and asked, “Why do only women get to christen these

ships?”

Mr Carpenter fell silent. How curious, he wondered, I’ve never heard of there ever being

a Godfather of ships before.

After many years of searching for an answer in the many shipyards he visited, he finally

found the answer. Turns out, even this detail has a captivating historical story behind it.

A long time ago, shipwrights compared the construction of ships to shaping a beautiful

goddess. The curved hull of each vessel reminded the men of a woman’s waist, the painting

of the wood was similar to dressing a duchess in elegant clothing, each inch of the craft was

treated with the utmost care and respect, the way a man should treat a lady.

These ships, likened to Goddesses, glid majestically afloat on the ocean, with a group of

sailors tending to its any need. And whenever these beautiful crafts returned to land, it was

constantly surrounded by a group of “buoys”, or “boys” that enthusiastically awaited their

arrival.

Therefore, the strong yet graceful vessels were always referred to as female, and were

often named after a striking lady that the shipowners greatly respected. Vessels that were

identical in model, tonnage, and horsepower were thus also referred to as “ sister ships”

instead of “brother ships”.

Given the honored customs and established tales throughout nautical history, even today,

esteemed women are still invited to perform ceremonial ship launching traditions for cruise

liners and luxurious ships.

After uncovering the chronicle of the bottle smashing ceremony, Mr Carpenter cemented

his place as a knowledgeable figure in maritime knowledge and a peculiar lover of

champagne.