Line-crossing Ceremony

The ceremony of Crossing the Line is an initiation rite in the British Merchant Navy, Dutch merchant navy, Royal Navy, United States Navy, U.S. Coast Guard, United States Marine Corps, Royal Australian Navy, Russian Navy, and other navies that commemorate a sailor's first crossing of the Equator. Sailors who have already crossed the Equator are nicknamed "(Trusty/Honorable) Shellbacks", often referred to as "Sons of Neptune"; those who have not are nicknamed "(Slimy) Pollywogs" (in 1832 the nickname "griffins" was noted).

When a ship crosses the Equator, all sailors aboard it who had never made an equatorial crossing before (called polliwogs) were expected to engage in a number of demeaning and embarrassing rituals on the deck of the ship in a ceremony presided over by a sailor who had already made an equatorial crossing (called a shellback) playing the role of King Neptune, and by a number of other shellbacks either playing his attendants or just joining the fun. Polliwogs who completed these rituals were made to kiss King Neptune, who was usually played by a particularly unattractive sailor, thus swearing allegiance to him. Upon completion of this ritual, polliwogs became shellbacks themselves, and were free to torment polliwogs on future equatorial crossings.

The tradition may have originated with ceremonies when passing headlands, and become a "folly" sanctioned as a boost to morale, or have been created as a test for seasoned sailors to ensure their new shipmates were capable of handling long rough times at sea. Among Ancient Greek mariners, there was a custom of tying a rope around sailors and dragging them along the bottom of their ship upon the first passing of th Equator. This was done as an offering to Poseidon. If the sailors survived the ordeal, Poseidon was believed to have shown his favor and deemed them worthy of a career sailing his oceans. The custom was also adopted by Roman sailors, who renamed Poseidon to Neptune.

Equator-crossing ceremonies, typically featuring the character "King Neptune", are also sometimes carried out for passengers' entertainment on civilian ocean liners and cruise ships. They are also performed in the merchant navy and aboard sail training ships.

Line-crossing Ceremony in Chicxulub Asteroid Missed

There was a custom whereby sailors who crossed the Equator were hatched from the egg anew, being besmeared with yolk (not the freshest of yolk, either) and having other indignities visited on them as well. When the Queepahd made its first crossing with Milvil on board, only three sailors went through the ceremony. Stabbak, the first mate in charge of the ceremony, was much more benevolent than the officer on the ship on which Milvil had made the crossing.

Line-crossing Ceremony in Joe Steele

When Mike Sullivan sailed from San Diego to Guadalcanal, he and the rest of the troops of the punishment brigade on board were taken topside when the ship crossed the equator and transformed from polliwogs to sturdy shellbacks by the magical powers of King Neptune (and his court consisting of shellback sailors who drenched them with fire hoses).

Line-crossing Ceremony in Southern Victory

Elaborate, mischievous equator-crossing ceremonies were a hallmark of United States Navy life. When the USS Remembrance was ordered to sail from Bermuda around Cape Horn and back north to the Sandwich Islands, she crossed the equator and its crew carried out the hazing ceremony on the polliwogs on board. Lieutenant Sam Carsten remarked to Commander Daniel Cressy that it was a fine show and CPO Szymanski made the best King Neptune he had ever seen.

Once, during the Second Great War when the USS Josephus Daniels crossed the Equator, the crew learned XO Myron Zwilling was a polliwog, and treated him accordingly. After the ceremony, he made a point of punishing the shellbacks who humiliated him.