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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