Why the Skull & Success Knot?
In the book, Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea, by Marcus Rediker, Rediker states, "A sailor should never be a afraid of anything the sea can produce, for if your fear once gets the better of your courage, you will be of no use at all. No men can have a greater contempt for death and dread a storm no more, than he does a broken head when drunk."
A sailor deemed it was a successful voyage, if he returned to port and cheated death.
