Watching La Revenante's nameboards taking shape ( go Linda!) raises the thorny question of the renaming of boats. There is actually remarkable consensus among boaters that this is an matter to be seriously considered. In other words, I can find no one who suggests that the issue be ignored. So have we all been won over by the logic of Pascal's Wager ( present company included...). it remains therefore only to pick the right kind of denaming and renaming ceremony and identify those gods with whom we will share the champagne.History is on our side. It is said that the Royal Navy was never keen to do so, but made exception for vessels built in foreign countries whose names were inappropriate to their new purposes. Also, Cook's schooner "Grenville" was renamed, having been originally "Sally".
This will be La Revenante's third name. She was originally 'Amanda', and respectfully kept as such by her second owners who lived aboard for a dozen years. Under new owners she became 'Buccaneer', and it is not known if this renaming was done with proper care, because the gods did not treat her well under than name.
What I know so far is that the ceremony must contain five steps:
- An invocation
- An expression of gratitude
- A supplication
- A re-dedication
- A libation
Gotta do the first four to get to the last!
There is a long list of gods to consider: Poseidon (Neptune) is the best known, but there is also Aeolus (god of wind), and individual gods for the north, west, east, and south winds: Boreas, Zephyrus, Eurus, and Notus respectively. I can see that more than petty cash will be required to appease that lot!
We will however stop short of slaughtering virgins - or scuttling the boat and re-floating her with the new name. Progress is progress.
