| "Crossing the Line Ceremony" |
| May 14, 1969 |
| Latitude 0000 - Longitude 165° 24' W |
The Royal Court
Pictures and text from the USS Arlington's
"WHERE THE ACTION IS"
MID - PAC 69
Our passage south from Hawaii included crossing the equator, so ARLINGTON held a traditional crossing of the line ceremony. Fiendish shouts of glee were mixed with screams of pain as over six hundred pollywogs became hardened shellbacks on May 14. In keeping with an old tradition of the sea, those who had never before crossed latitude 00-00 were soundly whipped and otherwise mistreated by the trusty shellbacks. From the royal medicine to the pollywog's final bath, every effort was made to convince those sailors that the equator was a hospitable place only for the subjects of Neptunus Rex, ruler of the raging main. Those convinced were accepted into the tight fraternity of shellbacks.
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| Coffin for Special Cases | Garbage Chute | Dunking Tank | ||
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| Paddle Line | Kissing the Royal Baby | Royal Medicine | ||
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| A New Shellback | Paddle Line | After the Royal Kiss |
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