Evidence status: UNKNOWN
Mention bananas on some fishing boats and you may get a stronger reaction than if you had brought no bait.
The fruit itself is harmless.
The superstition surrounding it is anything but simple.
The Short Answer
Bananas are genuinely regarded as bad luck by some fishing and boating communities, particularly in parts of the United States and Pacific.
What cannot be established is one historical event that created the belief.
Modern fishermen give several different explanations: banana-carrying ships had to travel too quickly for successful trolling, banana cargoes concealed spiders and other pests, ripening fruit spoiled nearby provisions, or fishermen simply noticed unsuccessful trips on which bananas happened to be aboard.
Folklore archives preserve all of these explanations — which is itself a warning that we are dealing with a living superstition rather than a securely documented origin story. :contentReference[oaicite:0]{index=0}
What We Know
The superstition is certainly real.
The USC Digital Folklore Archives contain accounts from fishermen, sailors and boat crews who were specifically taught not to bring bananas aboard.
One recreational fisherman from Seattle described it as a rule passed down by his fishing mentor.
A Hawaiian boat captain recalled crew members refusing to allow bananas aboard.
Another sailor remembered instructors warning him from childhood that bananas should never be taken onto a sailing boat.
The consequences vary.
Some say bananas stop the fish biting.
Others predict bad weather.
Others simply describe them as generally unlucky. :contentReference[oaicite:1]{index=1}
Royal Museums Greenwich also catalogues a modern reference work on sailors' superstitions that includes the fear of bananas alongside other maritime taboos.
So this is not an internet invention.
It belongs to genuine occupational folklore. :contentReference[oaicite:2]{index=2}
What is much harder to establish is how old it is.
Unlike some maritime beliefs that appear clearly in nineteenth-century folklore books, the historical trail for bananas is surprisingly difficult to pin down.
How It Became a Habit
Fishing creates ideal conditions for superstition.
Success depends on skill, certainly — but also on weather, currents, fish behaviour and plain chance.
Two crews can do almost everything the same way and return with completely different catches.
That uncertainty creates fertile ground for rules.
Wear the lucky hat.
Do not say a particular word.
Do not whistle.
And whatever you do:
do not bring bananas.
The Library of Congress notes that maritime occupations have produced unusually durable systems of good-luck and bad-luck beliefs because life on the water is hazardous and unpredictable.
Such beliefs provide explanations for events that otherwise appear random. :contentReference[oaicite:3]{index=3}
Once a crew accepts a rule, confirmation becomes easy.
Take bananas and catch nothing?
The bananas did it.
Leave them ashore and catch plenty?
Proof that the rule works.
Take bananas and have a spectacular day's fishing?
A committed believer can always argue that the catch would have been even bigger without them.
One Hawaiian captain recorded in a folklore interview told exactly that story. After deliberately bringing bananas aboard and returning with thousands of pounds of fish, his mate simply replied that they would have caught more without the bananas. :contentReference[oaicite:4]{index=4}
That is how good superstitions survive evidence.
The Story Everyone Tells
One popular explanation involves the old banana trade.
Bananas spoil quickly.
Ships carrying them therefore needed to move rapidly from tropical growing regions to market.
Because those vessels travelled quickly, the story says, crews trolling lines behind them caught fewer fish.
Eventually fishermen concluded that bananas themselves prevented fish being caught.
Another story blames unwanted passengers.
Banana bunches and cargoes could contain insects, spiders or other creatures. Sailors supposedly associated illness, bites or infestations with the fruit and eventually banned it.
A third explanation says ripening bananas caused other provisions to deteriorate more rapidly.
Each story contains something plausible.
None has been shown to be the origin.
What the Evidence Actually Says
The biggest difficulty is that fishermen themselves tell different origin stories.
One USC account attributes the belief to Polynesian voyaging.
Another attributes it to fast Caribbean banana ships.
Another blames insects and pests.
Still another suggests that nobody involved actually knows where the rule came from. :contentReference[oaicite:5]{index=5}
That variety is classic folklore behaviour.
A custom survives.
The original explanation is forgotten.
Later generations invent explanations that make the custom seem logical.
So:
DOCUMENTED: Some fishing and sailing communities genuinely regard bananas aboard as bad luck.
DOCUMENTED: Modern oral accounts preserve several different explanations.
PLAUSIBLE: Banana shipping practices, fishing conditions or troublesome cargoes may have reinforced the belief.
FOLKLORE: No single popular origin story has been demonstrated historically.
UNKNOWN: The precise origin of the banana taboo remains unresolved.
Different Elsewhere
The rule is far from universal.
Many commercial vessels have carried bananas as ordinary cargo without treating them as cursed.
Royal Museums Greenwich preserves photographs of major banana-handling facilities and vessels involved in the trade, a useful reminder that enormous quantities of bananas travelled perfectly routinely by sea. :contentReference[oaicite:6]{index=6}
The superstition survives most strongly as fishing and recreational-boating folklore rather than as a universal law of seafaring.
Even among fishermen, attitudes vary from absolute prohibition to deliberate mockery.
Why It Stuck
Because fishing is unpredictable.
That makes almost any memorable object a potential explanation for failure.
Bananas have another advantage:
they are easy to ban.
Nobody has to understand the history.
Nobody has to perform an elaborate ritual.
Leave the banana at home.
If the fish bite, the superstition gets the credit.
If they do not, at least nobody can blame the fruit.
Related Curiosities
Why Is Whistling on a Ship Supposed to Bring Bad Luck?
Why Is Killing an Albatross Supposed to Bring Bad Luck?
Why Is Renaming a Ship Considered Bad Luck?
Why Do We Throw Salt Over Our Shoulder?
Sources & Further Reading
Library of Congress, American Folklife Center — maritime beliefs and the role of superstition in unpredictable occupations. :contentReference[oaicite:7]{index=7}
USC Digital Folklore Archives — multiple independent modern records of the bananas-on-boats superstition and its competing explanations. :contentReference[oaicite:8]{index=8}
Royal Museums Greenwich — catalogue record for Never Say Pg: The Book of Sailors' Superstitions*, including the maritime banana taboo. :contentReference[oaicite:9]{index=9}
Last checked: 19 September 2026