 In Samuel Taylor Coleridge (qv)s famous poem, "The Rime of the  Ancient Mariner", a ship encounters an albatross which the sailors  believe brings the breeze and gives the ship good luck. The Mariner  kills the albatross and he and the ship are cursed with bad luck. In  the film, one of the seamen remarks to Maturin, the doctor, that a  bird flying close to the HMS Surprise may be an albatross. A redcoat  trying to kill this bird of good faith accidentally shoots Maturin,  certainly an omen of bad luck for the crew.