Is It Bad Luck to Re-name Your Boat? Maybe yes.

Did you hear about HMS Totem? On a friendly visit to Canada, this Royal Navy submarine was paid a courtesy call from a Native Indian Chief.

He presented the crew with a totem pole and solemnly told them that it must never leave the ship, for if it did, the submarine would never return to port.

HMS Totem was sold to Israel and renamed Dakar. As is the practice, all of HMS Totem’s trophies were taken off and put into storage.

In January 1968, submarine Dakar sailed on her delivery voyage to Haifa. She never made it to port, feared lost somewhere in the eastern Mediterranean.