78 Crossing the Line 



1802, continued 



Finalement, nous terminâmes la fête par un punch des plus copieux et des 

 plus épicés. Il fut bu, en trinquant à la santé du Tropique. 



Telle fut — vraie bacchanale — notre fête du Tropique. A quelques vari- 

 antes près, elle se célèbre ainsi, à bord de tous les navires qui coupent le 

 cercle. 



L'origine de cette burlesque cérémonie remonte très loin. EUe fut imaginée 

 par les navigateurs portugais et espagnols, qui osèrent, les premiers, à la fin 

 du XV^ siècle, s'aventurer sur l'infini de l'Atlantique. 



(Christophe Paulin de la Poix, chevalier de Fréminville. Mémoires du 

 . . . capitaine des frégates du Roi. Edited by E. Herpin. Paris, 1913. 

 Bibliothèque de la revolution et de l'empire, v. 7, p. 30-33. ) 



In Man. v. 18 (1918), p. 187-188, is given a condensation in English by H. A. Rose, with the 

 following comment: 



De Fréminville ascribes the origin of this ancient rite to the Portuguese and Spanish 

 navigators who ventured at tlie end of the fifteenth century upon the boundless Atlantic. 

 He also says that it was allowed on State ships in order to maintain cheerfulness, one 

 of the elements of health. 



This account differs a good deal from that given in the Book of Days, in which no 

 mention is made of the 'Old Tropic' As practised by English sailors, shaving the novice 

 was a principal feature, and by far the roughest part of the ordeal. The Book of Days 

 says the custom, in some form or other, is believed to be very ancient, and to have 

 been originally instituted on the occasion of ships passing out of the Mediterranean 

 into the Atlantic, beyond the 'Pillars of Hercules.' Could anyone give references to 

 classical Portuguese or Spanish authorities on the origin and history of the rite? 



So far as I know this appeal "to classical Portuguese or Spanish authorities" made in 1918 has 

 brought no reply. Let us hope that voicing it nearly forty years later may be more fruitful. 



But, as said before, almost all openminded hsteners to the tales here set forth must probably 

 have found ourselves wondering if it all does not go back, far back of "classical Portuguese or 

 Spanish authorities," for word about how primitive man struggling with tlie inviting and the 

 threatening ocean must have felt he had to ask for protection and favor when he faced the waves, 

 must have felt he should show in some way how he felt in face of that accepted higher power? 



Is it fair to ask once more if the business of shivering by the Old Man of the Tropic as he came 

 down from the main top, all aquiver with the cold, even though weU covered with furs and even 

 if the ship was right in the midst of tropical heat, may not hark back to a part of a rite of 

 northern origin? 



Another account of the ceremony set down by Fréminville is found under 1822. 



1803 



We had parted company with the frigate only a few days, when the cry of 

 Neptune! Neptune! resounded from every part of the ship, and, on looking 

 forward I, to my utter astonishment, beheld the venerable Monarch of the 

 waves ascend the bows with his trident in his hand.* I ran towards the fore- 

 castle to receive him, and give my hand to his wife Amphitrite, together 

 with her attendant goddesses, who were climbing up the cutwater in 

 succession. 



* It is in this manner a Sailor comes first on board ship; always at the bows, never through the 

 cabin-windows . 



