The Nineteenth Century 151 



decks were then cleared up, and the people indulged in mirthful recreation 

 through the remainder of the day. 



(The Old Sailor's Jolly-Boat, laden with tales, yams, scraps, fragments 

 pulled by wit, fun . . . and steered by Mathew Henry Barker. London, 

 1844. V. i, p. 452-456. With illustrations by Robert Cruikshank.) 



1845 



Wednesday, Dec. 10. This morning, with our royals set to a steady south- 

 easter, we dashed across the equator at longitude thirty. . . . 



Old Neptune formerly saluted every ship that crossed the hne. He ap- 

 peared in the shape of some tall sturdy tar, in ox-hide mail, with a long 

 beard of yam falling below his chin, and locks of the same flowing in 

 drenched ringlets down his shoulders. His trident was a huge harpoon, his 

 pipe the coded hose of the fire-engine; thus accoutred, he hailed the ship 

 over her bows, and mounting a gun-carriage, was drawn aft to the quarter- 

 deck. Here he summoned the green horns to his presence, and after lather- 

 ing them from a tub of grease and tar, shaved them with a ship's scraper. 

 Having thus introduced the novice into his service, he retinned in triumph 

 to his watery reahn. This ceremony was foimd such an infraction of dis- 

 cipline, that it has been discontinued on board our national ships. Our 

 sailors were allowed to sphce the main-brace as a substitute. 



(Rev. Walter Colton, U. S. N. Deck and port; or. Incidents of a cruise in 

 the United States Frigate Congress to California. New York, 1860. 

 p. 72-73.) 



Just when the party was "discontinued on board our national ships" is uncertain. In recent 

 years the decision to stage the ceremony has rested with the commanding oflBcer of the ship 

 or the senior officer afloat. Just how much was included in the substitute function of "splicing 

 the main-brace" is also unclear. Admiral L. P. Lovette comments: "In the wine mess days of our 

 Navy, up until Josephus Daniel's day, officers bought off with a dozen bottles of beer for the 

 enlisted Father Neptune party who put the show on, all called 'shell backs.' " The practice of 

 issuing a spirit ration was aboHshed by act of Congress July 14, 1862, but qualified by an exemp- 

 tion of "ale, beer, wine, or other hquors not distilled" in Navy Regulations of 1865. Half a cen- 

 tury later Secretary Daniels forbade alcoholic liquors "for drinking purposes," June 1, 1914; but 

 on March 21, 1934, shore establishments were allowed to carry liquors for officers. 



{After June, 1845] Crossing the line was quite an event in the hves of those 

 who were now making their first voyage. The ceremonies of shaving, duck- 

 ing, and tribute-exacting, which we read of as being so much in vogue in 

 fonner days, on occasions of this kind, have gone out of use in this practical 

 age, and I, who had looked forward with delighted terror to the advent of 

 Neptime, and the initiation of us green hands, into the mysteries of the sea 

 god, was obhged to content myself with reminiscences of the older tars, 

 most of whom had undergone the ordeal of Father Neptune's razor and 

 bathing tub, and taken the required obhgations, "never to eat brovioi bread, 



