CROSSING THE LINE

On 29 December 1907, after their first coaling stop in Trinidad, the Atlantic Battleship Fleet, nicknamed “the Great White Fleet,” weighed anchor and headed south on their epic world cruise.  Five days later off Macapa, Brazil, they made their first of what would be four crossings of the Equator.  According to longstanding custom, each ship was duly visited by King Neptune and his court.  Aboard each the uninitiated polliwogs atoned for such sins as knowing more about haystacks than about seaweed in a traditional ceremony, which today adheres to anti-hazing regulations.

Maritime lore holds that crossing the Equator provides one the opportunity to be introduced to the Solemn Mysteries of the Ancient Order of the Deep–provided one is properly expunged of any landlubber attributes.  Toward that end King Neptune’s henchman, Davy Jones, appears the evening before the ship approaches the Equator to announce that the ship must heave to for an audience on the morrow with the King.  In the hours that follow, the polliwogs among the crew endure good-natured “cleansing” at the hands of the shellbacks.  King Neptune appears the following morn in his royal splendor, accompanied by an entourage that includes Davy Jones, Queen Amphitrite, and perhaps the Royal Chaplain, Royal Doctor, Royal Dentist, Royal Barber, the Devil, and one or more Royal Babies.  Acquiescent skippers, respecting the august ruler, dutifully welcome him aboard.  The polliwogs are now summoned before the King, who, of course, finds them unclean and orders the appropriate expurgating rituals.  These may include ministrations by the members of the Royal party, appeals to various Gods of the Sea, dosing with Truth Serum, and other purifying practices.

As maritime traditions go, the observance of an initiation ritual upon crossing the Equator is old indeed.  It probably began soon after the spherical nature of the globe was established.  European navigators from the 1500s, such as Magellan and Jean Parmentier, record such rituals.  The first US Naval vessel to cross the line was the frigate ESSEX, 32, during the War of 1812.  Her skipper, CAPT David Porter, did not log the details of his crossing ceremony while enroute to harass British shipping in the Pacific.

In 1989 complaints of sexual harassment arising from such a ceremony aboard the Merchant Marine training ship Golden Bear prompted the National Maritime Administration to examine the notorious vigor with which parts of the ritual were conducted.  In a similar vein such ceremonies aboard US Navy vessels today are well controlled to insure the safety of all participants while preserving the flavor of the rite.

Watch for more “Today in Naval History”  8 JAN 26

CAPT James Bloom, Ret.

Mack, William P. and Royal W. Connell.  Naval Ceremonies, Customs and Traditions, 5^th ed.  Annapolis, MD: USNI Press, 1980, pp. 184-87.

Oral history, CAPT James Bloom, converted to Shellback aboard USS DIXON (AS-37), November 1995.

Reckner, James R.  Teddy Roosevelt’s Great White Fleet.  Annapolis, MD: USNI Press, 1988, p. 32.

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                                 24 OCTOBER-14 NOVEMBER 1995

                                     THE LAST CRUISE OF DIXON

At 1600 on the sunny Tuesday afternoon of 24 October 1995 the L.Y. Spear-class submarine tender USS DIXON (AS-37) cast off from middle pier at SubBase Point Loma and was eased by tugs into the channel.  This still fit 25-year-old Cold War veteran, built to service nuclear attack subs, was bound for Norfolk to await scrapping in the James River ghost fleet.  Her normal 1200-man crew had been pared down to 400-odd essentials.  Her repair shops, boats, and much of her loose gear had already been off-loaded.  A sheared pin in a circulating pump delayed her departure eight hours but her skipper, CAPT David W. Hearding, still planned her twilight cruise to be one of her best.

Calm seas and fine weather cooperated in keeping the lightened tender from rocking too badly as she steamed south.  The weather held on the 28^th when, in a solemn ceremony, the ashes of CWO3 Frazier Russell were committed to the deep by MACS(AW) Francisco M. Aguinot.  In keeping with the retired Warrant’s wishes after his death the previous June, he was intombed from the deck of the ship aboard whom he had proudly served.

DIXON, who held the speed record for tenders at that time, cruised well, allowing a detour so far south that on Halloween, Davy Jones appeared on the bridge requesting the ship lay to for an audience with King Neptune and his Court.  Subsequently 251 polliwogs successfully endured a traditional initiation into the realm of Neptunus Rex.  Turning north again, DIXON steamed to within 40 miles of the Panamanian coast to begin operations with US Army “Dustoff Panama” helicopter units from the Canal Zone.  Throughout that day US Army UH-60 “Black Hawk’s” made a total of 71 touch-and-go approaches to the after flight deck.  And during lulls in this excitement, the crew was treated to a mid-ocean swim call.  The participation of DIXON in helo operations was noteworthy–on 6 November 1984 she had become the Navy’s only sub tender with helo deck certification.

Her passage through “the ditch” coincided with Panamanian Independence Day festivities.  The occasion was celebrated under steamy tropical heat with that which had become a regular during the tenure of CAPT Hearding–a steel-beach picnic.  On the Caribbean side the waters proved rougher and hotter, hampering only mildly the last leg of the 4950 mile transit to West Palm Beach.  Following liberty call here, DIXON arrived at Norfolk Naval Shipyard on November 10^th.  In an august affair on 15 December 1995 USS DIXON decommissioned.  Taken out of service as part of post-Cold War “right” sizing, her crew wondered at the wisdom of scrapping a vessel with so much service left to give.

Watch for more “Today in Naval History”  7 NOV 25

CAPT James Bloom, Ret.

Oral history of CAPT James Bloom, aboard for the cruise.

ADDITIONAL NOTES:  During the ’90s the breakup of the Soviet Union brought a revised op-tempo, during which fixed shore facilities like Bangor, Washington, and Kings Bay, Georgia, assumed a greater role in supporting submarine operations.  As a result, many of our fleet of tenders fell under the budget axe.  DIXON was named for LT George M. Dixon, the Confederate Army officer who piloted H.L. HUNLEY on her historic mission against the Union frigate HOUSATONIC near Charleston Harbor in 1864.

DIXON lay in the James River Reserve Fleet until the summer of 2003, when she was towed to sea and, on 21 July, expended as a target.  She rests today in 17,000 feet of water 360 miles southeast of Charleston.

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