# How to break a bottle on a ship? (BBC News)



## SN NewsCaster (Mar 5, 2007)

It's bad luck if the bubbly doesn't break when christening a ship, so P&O has recruited the Royal Marines to launch supersize liner Ventura. What are other tricks of the trade?

More from BBC News...


----------



## Orbitaman (Oct 5, 2007)

At Smith's Dock on the Tees, they prepared two champagne bottles for each launch by cutting a fine groove in the neck of the bottle. The reason for preparing two bottles was that if the groove was cut too deep on one, the bottle might explode, leaving the backup!


----------



## captkenn (Aug 16, 2007)

Cross score the bottle with an ordinary glass cutter - it works every time.


----------



## K urgess (Aug 14, 2006)

Isn't all this cheating the gods?
It could be said that making sure the bottle breaks could bring as much bad luck as if it doesn't break at all.[=P]


----------



## RCHARLTON (May 18, 2005)

Here's a video of the launching of the Esso Northumbria in 1969. It looks as though they welded a " bump" onto the bow for the bottle to hit.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=On6FDzUiMgA


----------



## K urgess (Aug 14, 2006)

That explains all the problems we had while I was on her.
You would have had to have something like that on Big Geordie the "bow" was just another rounded corner. [=P]


----------

