The bad luck banana

As a kid on a party boat charter off the coast of Galveston more than 40 years ago, I learned first-hand that having a banana on board a fishing vessel is a more egregious sin than letting the engine oil run dry, hoisting the Jolly Roger, or even throwing the captain overboard. Much of my first taste of this maritime wives tale was theater, but even initiating a seance and conjuring up the ghost of Fletcher Christian, I was told, would be more forgivable than pulling a banana out of your lunch bag while out at sea.