Eye of Osiris?

If you look at one of the brightly painted Maltese fishing boats (luzzu is the Maltese name for one of these), you will be sure to notice a pair of eyes painted on the front.  Now people will tell you that these represent the eye of Osiris, (Egyptian god of the underworld, if you couldn't place the name), and that they were introduced to the island by the Phoenicians.  These Phoenicians were famous sailors and traders, and so they are as likelly as anyone to hae been painting good luck symbols onto the prow of their boats to protect against evil spirits of the deep.  in truth, there's not too much hard evidence about what the eyes are and how exactly they came
to adorn Maltese fishing vessels.  What we can be pretty sure of is that fishermen tend to be a pretty superstitious bunch, and so if dad and grandad painted an pair of eyes onto his boat and the boat didn't sink, then sonny jim isn't going to take any chances.