86 Crossing the Line 



1814, continued 



with the tar and filth, gave the poor ill-used landsman a most deplorable 

 appearance. To conclude the ceremony, one end of the plank was slipped 

 away, and he received two or three severe duckings in the not over cleanly 

 water. 



Those who betrayed any signs of resistance or indignation, fared the 

 worst — whue those who took the thing quietly, and passed it ofiE as a good 

 joke, got ofiE with a light penalty. One of our young landsmen, with a regard 

 to the economy of his dress, which he rightly enough anticipated would not 

 be very sacred against the lathering of the rough barber, had stripped him- 

 self to his browsers; but while he preserved his shirt and jacket clean, his 

 raw hide had to suffer; for he was lathered and shaved from his head down to 

 his waist; and it was many days, by the application of grease, and soap and 

 water, assisted by a stiff scrubbing brush, before he got his body again in a 

 decent pHght. No one, save myself, who had not before been shaved, es- 

 caped — but some who were so liberal as to bribe high with grog, got off 

 with httle annoyance. 



Our Htde craft, for a while, presented the picture of a Pandemonium, in 

 which the demons were holding a Saturnalia; and it was not until the next 

 day, that the actors in this rude ceremony were sober enough to do their duty. 



After all had been thus roughly welcomed, and Neptune and his retinue 

 had sphced the main-brace with all the grog they could get, they retired 

 the same way they came — the royal Amphitrite as unamiably drunk, as 

 was her loving spouse. They wished us a successful and happy cruise — 

 and we kept on our way. 



(Benjamin Frederick Browne. The yam of a Yankee privateer. Edited 

 by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Introduction by Clifford Smyth. New York: 

 Funk & Wagnalls Company, 1926. pages 60-64.) 



1815 



On the 23rd [of November, 1815], at eight o'clock in the evening, we crossed 

 the hne, in longitude 26° 26". I had determined to keep this day as a hohday, 

 for which purpose preparations were made in the morning; towards even- 

 ing, when the ship was washed, and every thing put into order, it was 

 brilliantly iUmninated, the officers and crew being in their best clothes, the 

 passing from one hemisphere into the other was expected in profound and 

 solemn silence; at the stroke of eight the flag was hoisted, and we saluted 

 the southern hemisphere with eight guns, and drank to each other in our 

 best wine; the sailors had excellent punch. Upon this Neptune appeared, 

 and bid us welcome to the south: he baptized every one that had not passed 

 the hne before, and I was the only one that had not to undergo that cere- 

 mony. The rejoicing was general, and continued the whole evening and part 



