On the subject of St. Elmo's fire, as far as I've seen, it was considered to be good at some times, bad in others... specifically, I've seen several references to crews giving up hope of surviving after seeing the 'fire playing through their rigging in the face of a storm... some sailors saw it as a mark that the ship would be sunk in the storm. Of course, if they weren't willing to go up in the rigging to reef sails, it could very quickly become a self fulfilling prophecy.

M