舌尖上的航海丨第18集 “老轨”与“香槟酒”的故事

船员对船上轮机长俗称“老轨”。

年过半百的杭屹“老轨”不吸烟不喝酒，业务精通，有船上“好男人”和机仓“神探”的绰号。经过“闻、听、看”功夫，毫厘不差的找出机器的毛病，是公司接新船的“专业户”。

杭屹“老轨”平时滴酒不沾，如何与香槟酒套上近乎。

“老轨”与香槟酒结缘是第一次接新船开始的。

一年，杭屹“老轨”来到欧洲一家著名造船厂按艘新船。

船厂按惯例举行了隆重的轮船命名下水典礼。

坞台周围彩旗飘飘，气球高悬，一阵高昂雄壮的军乐声中，一位身着盛装雍容华贵的女子，缓步走向船头，举起盛满香槟的酒瓶，在人们阵阵掌声和欢呼声中，猛地砸向船头，顿时，瓶碎酒溅，醇香的酒味弥漫四周……。

这场面，杭屹“老轨”过去在影视片里见过。首次亲眼目睹这精彩的场面，把手都拍红了，久久不能忘怀。

人们称这种仪式叫“掷瓶礼”。

事后，杭屹“老轨”了解了“掷瓶礼”的来历。

科学技术落后的古代，航海是既艰辛又危险的职业，海难事故频发。每逢遇到海滩时，船上存活的人只能将求救信和遗嘱，装在封好的酒瓶里，抛向大海，任其漂流。希望其他船和岸上人发现。

所以，每当海上起风暴或船没有按期归来，船员的亲人和家属，纷纷聚集岸边祈祷和期盼亲人平安归来。

但是，残酷的事实往往令人失望。偶尔能见到令人心碎的“漂流瓶”，却不见亲人归来。

久而久之，为了祈求平安，人们希望海上不再有让人心碎的“漂流瓶。”

人们决定，在新船下水时，将盛有香槟的“漂流瓶”砸碎在船头，让醇香的香槟，“布满船头，驱邪消灾”，海难永不出现……。

这是带有浓郁宗教色彩的古老的船舶下水仪式。

如今，海难不再频发，抛砸香槟酒的“掷瓶礼”却保留了下来。

抛砸香槟酒的大都由出自名门望族身份显赫的女子执行，号称“教母”。1930年下水的超级豪华邮轮“伊丽莎白”号的“教母”为伊丽莎白女王。她的女儿卡洛琳公主则是“伊丽莎白Ⅱ号”的“教母”。摩洛哥葛利丝王妃在“海洋女神”号下水仪式上执行了“掷瓶礼”，英国的戴安娜王妃生前为“皇帝公主”号抛撒了香槟酒……。

首次接船，杭屹“老轨”收获不小，并特意收藏了一瓶“香槟酒”做为纪念。

随着接新船次数的增加，杭屹“老轨”家里那只特别的酒柜摆满了各式各样的“香槟酒。”

“香槟酒”成了杭屹“老轨”的“宝贝”，常在人们面前“显摆”。

但是，有次，一位船员的提问使杭屹“老轨”陷入了尴尬：“为什么每次执行“掷瓶礼”的都是女子？”

杭屹“老轨”沉默了；是啊，执行“掷瓶礼”都是女子，这是咋回事？

终于，杭屹“老轨”去接另艘新船时找到了答案。

这是一个与海上“浮筒”和造船工匠的“典故”有关。

古时候，造船工匠把造船比做“塑造”一尊“女神”；修长的船身如同女子纤细的腰肢，船壳被涂抹脃彩斑爛的油漆，是“雍容华贵”的衣裳，连敦实厚重的船尾也被当做女子富有性感的“臀部。”

“女神”在大海里迎风击浪，常有一群男子围绕在她的身边“伺候左右。”每当“女神”远航归来驶入港口，总是朝着浮筒前行。这些浮筒是群充满激情的“男孩”（男孩：英文bory与英文浮筒bury谐音）热情地排上去，向“女神”问寒问暖，热情异常。

所以，航海习惯上，人们把船舶“性别”定为“阴性”。称呼船为“她”，而不能用“他”。同类型船舶不能称“兄弟船”而要称“姊妹船”。

鉴于历史上沿袭的习惯，至今，全世界新船出厂的处女航，都是邀请女性为其命名和“掷砸香槟酒。”

起初，这种习俗只在西方国家盛行，后来，传到中国和其他国家。

“掷瓶礼”的习俗已经沿袭了几个世纪。

“老轨”与“香槟酒”的故事，使杭屹“机仓神探”的头衔上加了个“香槟酒”“老轨”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.

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