Research

[akashiver]

Here's an unverified anecdote from a nautical dictionary that is horrible enough to repeat:

"Ship of Fools... in15C Germany there were real Narrenschiffs (ships of fools). These most unusual ships were riverboats used to imprison the insane and thus clear city streets of them. Ships of fools plied up and down the Rhine carrying their cargoes of madmen, who were thought to have lost their souls and were supposed to sail back and forth until they became sane again. However,most of them died aboard these hellish ships, which had no destination but death."

Comments

[cataptromancer.livejournal.com]

Foucault does a riff on this in /Madness and Civilization/, too.

[moonandserpent.livejournal.com]

Damn, beat me to it with your Foucault-Fu.

[gollumgollum.livejournal.com]

My family created an LLC so that we could all jointly own our boats, and on my dad's suggestion we named it Ship of Fools, LLC. I believe he was thinking of the Grateful Dead song, but the suggestion was adopted wholeheartedly. (:

[kendokamel.livejournal.com]

I've also read (unverified) anecdotes about how sometimes, for the pleasure of the masses, one of said boats would be floated out into the harbor and set ablaze. o_O