Lunga Point (CVE 94) - Naval Cruise Book

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King Neptune and l Royal Court, HFROM: HRH NEPTUNIS REX TO: USS LUNCA POINT CCVE Q45 IN CONFORMITY WITH THE CUSTOMS ESTABLISHED SINCE MEN HAVE SAILED BEYOND THE SEAS AND INTO MY REALM THE COMMANDING OF- FICER IS REQUESTED TO HAVE ALL LOWLY POLLYWOCS FALL IN AT QUARTERS ON JULY FOURTH AT 1400 TO RECEIVE SUBPOENA DIRECTINC THEM TO APPEAR BEFORE MY ROYAL COURT ON WEDNESDAYJULY FIFTH X UNIFORM FOR SUCH LOWLY CREA- TURES SHOULD BE AS FOLLOWS CO- LON OFFICERS COMMA FANCY GREY OR KHAKI TROUSERS BLUE SERVICE TOP COAT AND WHITE CAPS EN- LISTED PERSONNEL WHITE TROU- SERS BLUE JUMPER FLAT HATS PEA- COATS AND WOOLEN GLOVES X UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES SHALL SUCH PERSONS BE PERMITTED TO WEAR SHOES OR SOX X SPECIAL OF- FICER LOOKOUTS SHALL BE POSTED IN THE EYES OF THE SHIP ONE HOUR PRIOR TO THE ARRIVAL OF MY ROYAL SCRIBE DAVEY JONES X UNI- FORM AND EQUIPMENT FOR LOOK- OUTS SHALL BE PRESCRIBED BY THE SENIOR SHELLBACK ABOARD XB 'fTuesday, 4July 1944: I2-I6 Steaming as before. 1405 Davey Jones welcomed aboard by Captainf, Sure enough, at exactly 1400, our ollicer lookouts, being ever on the alert, sighted Davey Jones climbing the down haul chains out ofthe depths of the briny deep, right up the bow of our ship and through the hawse pipes, and they immediately reported the arrival of our dis- tinguished guest to the OOD, who, in turn, reported it to the Captain. The Old lNIan promptly invited Davey up to the flight deck where he extended him a warm welcome aboard, whispering in Daveyfs car that he hoped the Royal Court would give us Pollywogs H--- the next day, particularly the Exec. be- cause it was with a feeling of utter contempt that the Skipper had learned that his Executive OHicer, with all his years at sea, had never gotten nearer the Equator than the Atlantic entrance to the Panama Canal. DaveyJones expressed his appreciation to the Captain for the warm welcome, and the11 looked down upon the supplicating Pollywogs with a supercilious and gluttonous expression on his weather-beaten face, and commenced reading the charges, most of whicl1 were faked. against the individuals bowing in great humil- ity and fright before his lNfIajesty's emissary. Davey seemed to enjoy the suffering of tl1e ,Pollywogs immensely as they stood about tl1e flight deck, barefooted, and in pea coats and top coats, with that Equatorial sun beating down upon them tand usD, and the perspiration dripping from their chins. His expression seemed to warn the poor un-initiated that where beads of perspiration dropped that day. drops of blood wo11ld be dripping on the IHOP- row, after they had been convicted without trial before the Royal Court, and were re- ceiving their just punishment. After warn- ing the Pollywogs to be prepared for trial at ex-

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one qualified Otiicer-of-the-Deck L1l1C.ll'I'Wf1Y.- And besides, the Exec completely overlooked the fact that at least one officer got lns coinnns- sion on the basis of having, for many yc21l'S. made periodical trips to Cape Lookout and the Gulf Stream in a 50-foot cruiser in pursuit of his favorite hobby of deep sea fishing witlwlll Once getting sea sick. But all this IS actually beside the point, we had the 'cboat' out there in the Pacific, and we had to drive it: so we figured we might as well drive it on down New 4. ,s , ,T lining up the- Nt-opliytcs ahead of time, him for his Nliellhg-u'k cmtcl. hc had to Mm thzit. cvcn though ht' gmthiatvd at Annapuk in io--32, he was gin liuinhlc. lowly Pclllywq. 8oo odd gcnuint- and uiicilihzirrzisscd Pollvw 'non th'it xi ' ' thru' stripfr I2 C ' of tI'4l 'limi A going through theord 4 V' 1 5, V ' 'rt'zi:'cl lltbfllllldt' 8 grini dctcriiiinzitioii to iiiiclrrgo our coming ordeal like nit-n ol' thc Nyvt-e ofold. wt' went XfN't-Il,lto sax' tht- least, it was some' comfort to w to k ' . x t' h.itl .1 ' ' . jf 311 UU! I I D ull C31 Htl U So with lllt st nd E about our daily tasks, trying to forget that li Davcv jones would stroll he ruining up throug may---..-e -fZ.',Ll'. . the hawse pipes with our Royal Suinmonses un- P til on Sunday. 2 .july 1o4.4,. we- received a dis- XC ' NN patch on bozird rt-ncliiig :is follows: Q jg- X 't ,Q .Q.'H-all-32 y 4 g 1 Y t :i , lg IM HFROM: HRH Nlil l'UNlS Rink 5 X ,ni 44 rijfi' i E 3775? Ai?-Z TO: Uss LUNGA PCJINT ccg:vE 943 'E -I ul ' 1 i , N i Y I XX IIg,j t.,. . 302330 Ps inf. i 'W .6 Ns IT I-IAS BEEN fRl2POR'l'l'iD THAT THE l , Uss LUNoARo1 NT, wrriai A FUI-.L CoM- Q PLEMENT or csRoss ifoLI.vwoGs is ABGUT TO liN',l'ER MY ROYAL DO- . .... i MAI' I MAIN X l'li IS HEREBY DIRECTED 1 A A 1 - T A rs G . h d b ld d c H- THArl ALL ,NIV LOYAI. SHlf,l.,LBACIx Wglgfiabvgigiasiiltid ioufeiigtiil to O Cm ABOARD INS'l5l'.ll'U'.l:E A ROYAL'CGUR'g Sailing, sailing ooer the bounding main, And many a stormy wind shall blow Ere jack comes home again. There followed many pleasant days of cruis- ing on the quiet waters of the South Pacific, and we all enjoyed the pleasant company of a fine group of passengers, because, at that time, we hadn,t begun to fight, and we had some leisure time on our hands COh, how we long for the leisure, nowb. It was the first time in those waters for most of us, and we really enjoyed the beauty of the Pacific, with its crystal clear, emerald green water, and its many species of flying fish, not to mention an occasional whale and school after school of porpoise, dolphin and shark. As the time went on, we drew nearer and nearer to the Equator, and the great ma- jority of us, being Pollywogs, looked forward to crossing the line with grave apprehension. It was, however, on E minus 49' Cfour days be- fore crossing the linej that the secret leaked out. He had tried to keep it a secret as long as he could, but when Neptune's representatives, MAY BE BoUND nv THF COMPANY o REAL SEAFARING MEN X IT IS DI RECTED THAT A REI-'ORT Loo B KEPT BY A TRUSTY SHELLBACK s THAT NO IMPERTINENT PoLLvwo MAY ESCAPE DUE PUNISHMENT FO His RASHNESS X ALL SUCH or- BENDERS SHALL BE BROUGHT T0 TRIAL UPoN MY ARRIVAL GN BOARD AT THE EQUATOR X THis SHALL BE PROMULGATED TO THE CREW AT QUARTERS X TO 'IRY ALL SUCH POLLXWOGS A , J F E O G R X 30233053 We continued with our classes of instruction and our various drills with renewed intereSt and vigor in hopes that we could momentarily forget our impending doom, but even the con- tagious smile of our popular instructor, Com- mander E. G. Osborn, USN, did little good ifl lifilping us to get our minds off our coming initiation, because on Monday, 3 july, WC FC' ceived another dispatch which read as follows: . fbi: it T '- A v. 'VN ,A-.

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actly 141.00 the next day. Davey left the ship via the hayysg pipes as quietly as he had come aboard. Wednesday, 5 july 19445 I2-I6 Steaming as before. 1400 ceremonies incident to crossing Conducted Equator. Oh, me! Oh, my!! The Royal Court convened on the flight deck promptly at 1400 and had rendered swift and Ujusti' sentences upon the 800 odd Pollywogs at exactly 1401. It is only meet and right that the names of the individuals comprising a Court that can render equitable punishment so rapidly should be preserved for posterity, therefore the entire Court is given below as follows: 3 HRH King Neptune .... C. B. Wagner, CCM HRH Queen Amphitrite ..... H. Beall, YIC Royai Scribe ........... Lt. C. C. Smith Royai Royal. Royai Royai Royae Davey Roya- Royai Royai Royai Royai Chaplain ..... R. O. McCormick, CSF Doctor. . . ...... Cdr. C. M. Tirrell Dentist. . . .... F. Handley, Cox Sheriff. . . ........ W. L. Baker, CSF Bear. . . ......... L. E. Ewing, CSK Jones ...... B. C. Ammons, MoMM2c Baby. . . .... W. W. A. Feurer, CRM Nurse ........ C. R. Wallace, AMM3c Barber. . . ...... W. W. Partin, YIC Barber ........ W. W. Atkinson, CSM Navigator ........ L. Nihem, QM3c l L Preparing the ducking tank'i for the Pollywogsf' l 7 Lowly Ulnollywogn kisses Royal Baby. Immediately after the sentences had been rendered, King Neptune extended a warm and cordial invitation to all Pollywogs to join the Court on the hangar deck, where certain secret and ugly looking gear had been set up for the Utorture of the damned, and the invitations weren't R.S.V.P., either. The only consola- tion we could find in the proceedings was that nearly all our passengers were Pollywogs also, and they, poor hapless things, constituted near- ly half the number being initiated. Wle of the Ship's Company would, at least, soon be c'giV- ing it back? After getting us on the hangar deck, they herded the entire lot of us down to the after crew mess, where we waited our turn in line for the privilege of running the gaulitllif of Shellbacks the length of the hangar deck to the forward elevator to pay homage to, and re- ceive treatment from the Royal Court. Pictures can tell the story of what happened far better than words. Sullice it to say that WC were a motley looking crew of Shellbacks whCH they had Hnished with us, with. crosses of silver nitrate on our foreheads that remained thCI'C nearly as long as we had to sit on the edge of our chairs at chow, which, in at least one ease, WHS all of a month. And the haircuts presented such a tonsorial array as has never before Ol since been equalled in originality. The inge-