Ship christening always good sailing, fair winds and calm seas.
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Ship christening is traditionally performed before ships are launched or at the first call at a particular port. During the naming ceremony, the ship is given its name and in many parts of the world a bottle of champagne is smashed against the ship's hull. Often a speech is made at the same time.
The naming of ships can be traced back to the fourth millennium BC. The term ship christening goes back to Christian baptism. Naming and baptism are closely linked in time, and this is how it was adopted for ships.
The godfather of a ship is always a woman, who may not be red-haired and may not wear anything green during the baptism. A violation of any of these three points is seen as a bad omen. During the "baptism" with a champagne bottle, the godmother lets the bottle smash against the ship's side. Then the cork is examined, which must still be firmly seated in the upper rest of the bottle neck to prove it.
The christening speech usually ends with the naming of the ship and the wish for always good sailing, fair winds and calm seas.
Incidents during the christening are interpreted as a bad omen, e.g. if the champagne bottle does not break or the ship gets stuck on the slipway. The latter happened to the freighter Melanie Schulte during her launching in 1952. And indeed, 'Melanie Schulte' sank in the North Atlantic for unexplained reasons only a few weeks after the ship's christening.
