i filed a few pieces to keep my hand in , and of course my shipmates were fascinated with the technology , so i offered to let them call home on the satellite phone , wives and girl friends , families ashore , only of course they did n't have any way of receiving calls , and then i heard mutterings on the mess-deck about witchcraft and how i might be a devil , or worse still a jonah , which i soon discovered was the worst thing you could possibly become aboard ship , the sailors being such a superstitious lot .