Pirates and ordinary sailors of the 18th century were afraid of bananas and called this fruit cursed. And taking him on board, according to maritime superstitions, was forbidden as well as the presence of a woman on the ship. Therefore, in the old days, navigators considered it a bad omen to carry boxes of bananas with them, and among them there was an opinion that these tropical fruits bring bad luck and terrible catastrophes.

Modern scientists have debunked the myth of the curse of an exotic fruit and scientifically explained the terrible "metamorphoses" that took place on ships carrying bananas. But everything is in order.

Prejudices prohibiting sailors from taking banana cargoes on a voyage appeared in the 1700s. At that time, jewelry, animals and food were transported in huge quantities from exotic countries to Europe — including bananas, which were considered a valuable product. But their transportation did not last very long – the sailors had a fear of the fetus. They believed that ships loaded with bananas were haunted by bad luck. In some cases, part of the crew died from strange diseases, in others, the ships exploded and in almost all cases, all the food in the cargo compartment quickly deteriorated.

And here are scientific explanations for these strange, sometimes even seemingly mystical incidents. On ships carrying bananas, crew members often died. And the cause of the plague was poisonous spiders hiding among the numerous fruits. Some of them managed to lay eggs and reproduce during the voyage. And most often they were Brazilian wandering spiders (Phoneutria), which in 2010 were included in the Guinness Book of Records as the most venomous spiders in the world — their venom contains a powerful neurotoxin PhTx3, which leads to loss of muscle control followed by respiratory arrest. The bite of a banana spider does not hurt much, but immediately causes infection of the lymphatic system. If the poison penetrates into the blood, then in 85% of cases it leads to cardiac arrest. Also, scorpions and even snakes could easily get into the fruit boxes.

As already mentioned, exotic fruits could also cause a fire on the ship. Previously, the voyage lasted several weeks or even months. During this time, bananas had time to deteriorate, which is why explosive methane gas was released into the air. The holds were thus transformed into time bombs. Even one careless movement could lead to a fire or even an explosion, so yes — it was dangerous to transport bananas.

In addition, methane led to ailments among the crew members. When poisoning with this gas, a person experiences dizziness, a feeling of lack of air, a sharp pain in the head and other unpleasant symptoms. With a high concentration of methane, a person could even die. Of course, in those years, the sailors did not yet know about the existence of this dangerous gas, so they simply considered bananas a cursed product.

Another terrible myth is that bananas quickly spoil the products that are nearby. This is due to the fact that these fruits emit ethylene gas, which causes the fruit to ripen faster than usual. It so happened that the schooner sailed with a full hold of fresh tropical products and sailed with a bunch of rot.

And it turns out that there is no curse on the banana, and the ignorance and superstition of the people of that time "overlaid" the sweet and delicious, endorphin–rich "hormone of happiness" fruit with terrible legends that terrified pirates and sailors of the 18th century.

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