400 Years of Equator Hazings: Surviving the Wrath of King Neptune's Court

In the U.S. Navy, the line-crossing initiation is voluntary, or at least it was when I was in, but it's kind of expected. One of my roommates aboard the USS Enterprise (the aircraft carrier) was an older warrant officer; he'd become a trusty shellback as an enlisted man, but when he got his warrant, the record was misplaced. So when we crossed the line, he went through the initiation again, with the rest of us slimy pollywogs, so that it'd be in his records again. He was a good sport about it.

Great story. Having undergone the hazing on a Dutch merchant ship, what stands out to me is how similar the rituals are across countries.

I had almost the exact same experience as the author, only including head shaving.

P.S. Here is my certificate: http://imgur.com/TPcQ2zu. I always take it with me on board, don't feel a particular need to do it again.

I crossed a few times as a passenger on a boat in the Galapagos Islands. One of the Australian passengers made mention of it, but the Ecuadorian crew acted like they knew nothing about it. Kind of disappointed nothing was made out of it.

That was also the time I drank the Vice Governor of Bermuda under the table. He, being a vain Scotsman, thought Americans knew nothing about whisky. I, being one who is not culturally retarded in the ways of the booze arts, correctly named the scotch in his flask as Lagavulin 16 year, and it was downhill from there. The Canadians wisely ducked out before we emptied that flask and the boat of wine and beer. The Scotsman called out sick for our morning tours. I was apparently still drunk by that point, because I felt great until about an hour into our second snorkeling trip. Thankfully, cold Pacific Ocean water and exercise are pretty good hangover cures.

Crap like this makes me glad I was in the Army.

Wog ratio on HN... probably north of 98%

I did some research on this recently, as part of a broader story on hazing rituals in the military. It's fascinating stuff. As a Marine, I've experienced and/or witnessed a fair amount of hazing. It's amazing how defensive people are about these traditions.

Living in Singapore, which is just north of the Equator, I have no idea if the local Navy does this since crossing the equator must be a common occurrence.

I would suspect the Indonesian navy doesn't as the country straddles the equator.

Tangent: Sturgil Simpson has a great song about some of this called Sea Stories.