Tattnall (DDG 19) - Naval Cruise Book

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'Q Did you say we have to go back to the Royal Baby? .,.DoubIe, double, boil and bubble ' KiSS my Shillelagh Falcon 109 W' is MM! MH M, 'MXN M W , L' ' - -1- 'W' M ' M43 ...-.:--.. ,.-,v.-.g....f---.4

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' ' ' TA TNALL Crosses The Line I must go down to the seas again, To the lonely sea and the sky. And all I ask is tall ship, And a POLLYWOG to whip. Paraphrased from the poem SEA FEVER ' by John Masefield M How far back did man first go down to the sea in ships? Who moved over the water before the Phoenicians, the Egyptians, or the Romans? History doen't tell us what sailors thought in the time of Christ when they faced that alluring, charming, helpful, inviting, cruel, destructive, devastating stretch of water known to us as the ocean, with their frailcraft. There remains no written record of Crossing the Line ceremonies by the Vikings, who certainly were foremost in their time for making extensive voyages, nor in the history of Drake, who passed the equator on 17 February, 1577. The first document date back to 1654, and described a crossing the line ceremony that is very much like today's ceremony, including everyone in fancy dress with blackened faces, a head man on a throne with victims brought before him to take their duckings and made to swear that they would favor other victims in the future in the same manner. Prior to the turn of the century, especially on His Majesty's ships, the initiation was in the form of rather brutal hazing with the Pollywogs kneeling before Neptune to pay their respect and swear- ing to treat future sailors as they had been treated. Each was blind- folded, then Iathered with a mixture of tar and grease, then the barber took it all off with a section of rusty barrel hoop. A close shave removed the remaining lather with perhaps a little skin. f, an 'i i l l I Today the accent is on good clean f?J fun. Perhaps some EMS still are a little vigorous in their treatment of some Junior Officers, and perhaps Executive Officers receive preferential treatment, but every effort is made to prevent injuries to men who thus join the famous legion of SHELLBACKS. The usual practice employed by a ship that expects to cross the line, is to select the oldest and perhaps most dignified crew member and former Shellback as King Neptune. He is always dressed in a beard made from partially unravelled swab. His head- piece is a circled, gilded piece of cardboard like a crown. In his hand he carries a trident and his body is covered with a cloth resembling a Roman toga. His first assistant is Davey Jones, who most often is a big burly Doatswainmate with a patch over one eye, and a tri-cornered hat with a skull and cross bones on the front. He is gifted with a voice that will peel the paint off the bulkheads. Neptune's wife, AMPHROTRITE, dressed in seaweed with lovely swab, or unraveled rope yarn curls down to her waist, is usually selected for her youthful good looks. Don't forget that she'lI be chosen tonight at 1600 and the 01 level aft, based on her beauty, talent and charm. The ROYHI 'Party is usually composed of Neptunus Rex, Amphrodrite, Davey Jones, Royal Baby fwho usually is the m0Si obese of all former Shellbacks and wears only a diaperl, Royal Chaplain lupon whose book the Pollywogs swear to continue the tradition of the ceremonyl, Royal Navigator fwho assumes com- mand of the ship so that the Old Man may witness the ceremony and the fUnl, the Judges fwho sentence the culpritsi, the Attornr-BVS iWh0 plead for the culpritsi, the Royal Prosecutor fwho makes sure all POHYWOQS are guiltyi, Royal Doctor lwho is supplied with ggmuirtguns filled with a loathsome fluidj, the Bears and Police and eriff fwho round up all suspects for initiationl, and last, but not least, the Devil. '

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A, -,.,,, . H.- ,- -A-mam. ..- V V ...,,.....,,,,.. o - -.....N,..,.,.. -.- Professor BOUBQUIN Caramba! Shaves and haircuts were free that day- as Brother ABBOTT finds out from the Royal Barber H, .i EVUOYUWQ Cocktails on the famai' ...another shot of my baby's love 'L-+ s .- ,,........-,-.-......,,-,.?... ...gf-s.,-A?-..,.-..,1.-aa1--,...-...,..4-.,,.-...4...--...-g:4.-,..g........,..a -' ...-..,.-.... ..1....,.. . , .. . ,dvi 1 p-L