You might be interested to know in connection with the bottle breaking superstition, of an event my shanty crew, the Roaring Forties, were involved in. We sang some shanties at the launching of a fibreglass America's Cup type yacht. I saw a bloke actually scraping the bottle with a glasscutter to ensure its breaking. At the great moment, the lady banged the bottle over the round, plastic bow. The bow yielded to the blow and the bottle failed to break. After three attempts, a lusty male offered to assist. he too failed and the tough fibreglass bow remained undamaged. Finally they held the bottle over the bow and donged it with a bricklayer's hammer. It broke.
I do not connect the fact that the boat was nearly totally wrecked in one of the Sydney to Hobart races with this superstition, but it does make one pause for thought.
                                 Your Good Health,

                                 Jack Halyard