Theseus Black Sails

myth:theseus_black_sails

Theseus had promised his father to hoist white sails if he returned alive, black if he died. In his grief or forgetfulness he leaves the black sails flying; and old Aegeus, watching from the cliff, sees them, believes his son dead, and casts himself into the sea — which bears his name ever after, the Aegean. — Greek myth