![]() Once the hazing rituals were completed, the pollywogs would then become a shellback, and a worthy member of King Neptune’s realm. The hazing would then take place and according to the U.S Navy it involves, “embarrassing tasks, gags, obstacles, physical hardships, and generally good-humored mischief”-all of which were meant to entertain the shellbacks and degrade the pollywog.” It is estimated that the hazing rituals could last for up to 12 hours or more. Once King Neptune and his royal court appeared on deck, his flag known as the “Jolly Roger” appears, and the ceremony would begin. The royals also have a secretary, sometimes known as a clerk, notary, or chancellor, whose job is to enter the names of the candidates to be sentenced by the court. Other members often include the royal baby, usually the fattest man in the crew wearing only a diaper the navigator the chief bear and his assistants, the latter of whom perform the dunkings the chaplain jesters and the devil. Her Highness Amphitrite, often a young seaman in a costume of seaweed and rope the scribe the doctor and the barber. The rest of King Neptune’s royal court includes: Usually, the subpoenas would include a long list of fake offenses the pollywogs were charged with like, “too many captain’s masts, excessive liberty, or seasickness.” Accompanying the Crossing the Line certificate, is a name card with the same name of the sailor who is featured on the certificate ![]() According to Thomas Wildenberg from the Naval History Magazine, the night before the ship crosses the equator, Davy Jones (a member of King Neptune’s royal court) appears in front of the Captain with a message on behalf of King Neptune, “stating at what time he wanted the ship to hove to receive the royal party.” That same night, all of the pollywogs are subpoenaed from Davy Jones, “to appear before the royal court on the morrow to be initiated in the mysteries of King Neptune’s Royal Domain. The equator represents the home of the Neptunus Rex or King Neptune, ruler of the deep and guardian of the mysteries of the sea. The Navy Times mentioned that the Crossing the Line ceremony is a traditional initiation ceremony where sailors who have not crossed the equator before and then do for the first time transition “from a slimy pollywog to a trusty shellback during an equator line-crossing.” A ceremony performed by sailors who have already crossed the equator, the shellbacks, initiate the pollywogs in order to test their ability to, “with long voyages at sea.” The ceremony is a an all-day performance and hazing ritual that represents the pollywogs initiation into King Neptune’s realm. Gray” was Leonard Ray Gray, an army private and 27 years old when he crossed the equator on the Pacific. National Archives and Records Administration, “L. Gray,” the mimeographed (a duplication process that predates modern photocopier) Crossing the Line certificate represented a long maritime tradition. ![]() Adolph Sutro was a cargo ship built during World War II, and according to the National Museum of the United States Navy, the liberty ships “were built on a mass-production scale in order to save supplies… the war progressed, the ships were also utilized as troop transports in the convoys.” Thus the liberty ships were created to help supply and fuel the World War II efforts, and then used to transport soldiers overseas.Īwarded to “L. “CROSSED THE PACIFIC EQUATOR IN THE PACIFIC OCEAN IN THE GOOD AMERICAN LIBERTY SHIP, ADOLPH SUTRO ON HER MAIDEN VOYAGE, ON THE SEVENTH DAY OF JULY IN THE YEAR OF OUR LORD NINETEEN HUNDRED AND FORTY * THREE” Jthe SS Adolph Sutro was completed and launched from Richmond, California. The Crossing the Line Ceremony certificate from above reads: ![]() The Line Crossing Ceremony certificate earned by army private “L.Gray” in 1943 on board the Liberty ship, SS Adolph Sutro. ![]()
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