Sue's Crossing the Line Ceremony

 17 April 2025 Equator, west of Gabon, Africa, Atlantic Ocean

King Neptune
Roman God of the Sea

The first time we crossed the equator, way back on February 15th, Sue opted out of taking part in the ceremony, thinking it would be too strenuous.  After watching it, it seemed more fun than strenuous so this time, Sue signed up.  I told her you are not really a Shellback until you've gone through the initiation.

More about Line-crossing ceremony and its history can be found here.

The captain said he would hold the ceremony just as we were crossing the equator, which turned out to be 9:30 at night.  And, as luck would have it, it was indeed a beautiful evening, perfect for the upcoming activities. 

Sue put on her bathing suit and shift before heading up to the Pavilion Pool area on the 9th deck at 9PM, the time she was told to gather with the other Pollywogs.  I stayed at pool level because I had her change of clothes and wanted to be close by.  That was a mistake, because the area filled up with what seemed to be the entire ships complement minus essential personnel.  So, I was not positioned well for pictures.  I did take some from the big screen and recorded several videos.  Some of the videos are a bit lengthy.  Thankfully, my German friend, Jan, came to my rescue and he sent me some photos and a video from Deck 10.  I am again in his debt.

The ceremony starts by summoning the Captain, Staff Captain and Hotel Manager and listing their crimes before the judge.  The judge asks the assemblage: Guilty or Not Guilty.  Of course everyone shouts Guilty!  I think I caught some of the charges on one of the videos.

The Pollywogs were required to kiss the fish (Sue said it was real, freshly thawed), then they were subjected to being rubbed down with different colored substances that I assume came from the kitchen.

Sue kissing the fish

 
Sue being smeared with whom knows what.








  

Jan's video of the process (Sue is the middle Pollywog):  Sue getting the treatment  

The ceremony lasted about 45 minutes, and it was similar to the last initiation.   There were only about 50 Pollywog guests this time, about half of the earlier initiation, and a smaller number of the crew which came after the guests.  I think the initiating Shellbacks were a little harder on the crew members, especially the officers.  During the initiation, our foghorn sounded, I'm thinking that was the exact moment we crossed.  Part of foghorn may be in one of my videos.

There was a party planned on the Panorama Pool Area, also on deck nine but aft of the dining area.  Sue and I went back to the stateroom where she showered before going to the party.  There was a band playing, they had a special price of $9.95 for some kind of King Neptune drink.  We passed on that as well as the cakes that they were handing out as well.  We stayed for a little while, but it was past our bedtime, so we called it a day.  Sue the Shellback, slept peacefully.

My videos:  

Music build-up beforehand

The Judge introducing King Neptune

Ship's captain chastised by King Neptune and his response

Charges & sentencing to kiss the fish

End of foghorn and Pollywogs getting smeared



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Goodbye Scotland, Hello Iowa

Image
 May 10-12, 2025    Heading home! On Saturday May 10, we visited Cultybraggen Camp located in the village of Comrie, not far from Crieff.  The camp was constructed during the second Word War and could house up to 4000 prisoners of war, first Italian, then German.  It was named POW Camp 21.  It had a notoriously hard reputation, housing dozens of SS officers, members of the Wehrmacht, Luftwaffe and Marine Corps.  Placard inside one of prison cells After the war in 1948 it became a Ministry of Defense training camp.  Thousands of personnel in the regular, territorial and cadet forces were trained here until its closure in 2004.  In 2008, it was purchased by a local organization and is now a multi-use site benefiting the community and local businesses.  It also contains a Community Orchard, Community Woodland and a large area for allotments for locals to use as gardens. VE (Victory in Europe) Day is observed on May 8th each year, and as ...
Read more

Getting to know Scotland!

Image
  Tuesday, May 5 Crieff, Scotland Aberfeldy (Dewar's) Distillary  Both Kate and Alastair or “Ally” as he is referred to, are very knowledgeable of the horticulture here.   They frequently pointed out the names of trees and plant life, many of which were flowering, and remarking if they were edible or not.   Ally even makes his own butter.   He has his own diet as well and rarely joined us for meals.   He is very artistic with many talents.   He is a wood carver and makes canes, topping them with his carved figures.   The one he uses personally, he carved to look like their dog, Bonnie, an amazing likeness.  (I should have taken a picture of Bonnie alongside her cane likeness!) Some of Alastair's canes He has a large collection of mounted bird carvings that he has done.   He gifted me one that had a Blue Tit, a bird that is common here, perched on the spout of a water keg getting a drink!   What a wonderful gift that I will treasur...
Read more

ORIGINATION

Image
  Tuesday, December 10, 2024 One of my Bucket List items was to visit Australia. This dates back to my Navy days in the late 60s. My ship, the USS Chicago CG-11, did two tours to Viet Nam. Our job was to patrol the waters off North Viet Nam to monitor communist aircraft taking off from bases in Hanoi. On our return home, many ships had the opportunity to visit Australia on the way back to our home port in San Diego. Twice we were scheduled to stop there for some R&R (Rest & Relaxation). But, in both cases, our visit was cancelled and the scuttlebutt, (Navy jargon for unreliable information) was that the Navy Wives Club were instrumental in the getting those port calls cancelled. So, Sue and I started looking at RV caravans tours of Australia and New Zealand offered by Fantasy Tours. This is a company that organizes RV tours like we took part in a couple years ago when we toured the Maritime Provinces of Canada. We didn't care for the long air flights and cost. So, ...
Read more