172 Crossing the Line 



1884 



The ceremony best known among those practiced among sailors, and con- 

 cerning which much has been written, is tliat observed in modern times, 

 "on crossing the line," from north into south latitude, or vice versa, as the 

 case may be. 



This custom, still observed as a pastime among sailors, is another of 

 those remarkable survivals of ancient practices begun as actual worship of 

 some diety, and finally existing as mere customs, without any significance. 

 Anciently the Greeks sacrificed, on nearing any prominent cape, on many 

 of which temples to the deities were placed. Dinring the middle ages, the 

 present ceremony of receiving a visit from a fictitious Neptune, arose, when 

 it was not, of course, performed at the equator, but on arriving within the 

 tropics, crossing the Arctic Circle, and even in passing certain capes, etc. 



Aubin [Dictionnaire Nautique (1702). Art. Baptême] quotes some older 

 writer concerning this ceremony: "It is a custom practiced from all anti- 

 quity, that those who are apprenticed to the sea, and who pass certain places, 

 where they have never passed, undergo this penalty, under the favorable 

 name of Baptism; that is, to be cast from the yard-arm into the sea. The 

 ships also are subjected to this ceremony, so ridiculous (of Baptism). It may 

 be said that is a recompense for the rejection by the Reformers, of that which, 

 among the Roman Catholics, has remained an act of religion; these latter 

 baptizing effectively their ships, the first time they are placed in the sea. 

 When the occasion presented, and the ships arrived in these consecrated 

 places, that is to say, where they had never been, the master was obliged to 

 redeem them; otherwise the crew at once proceeded to cut off the ship's nose, 

 or the whole outer part of the prow, or to disfigm-e or destroy some 

 other part of the ship. Those whom they wiU to cast from the yard-arms into 

 the sea, could redeem themselves by giving money to the crew. As to the 

 boys, instead of dipping them from the yard-arms, they put them vmder a 

 basket surrounded by tubs full of water, and each one dipped it out with 

 buckets and threw water on them." 



In after times, the ruder features of this ceremony were dropped, while 

 the essential ones, baptism and a penalty, were retained, and a more ex- 

 tended ceremony added. 



The same author describes this ceremony as occurring in French ships 

 about the middle of the seventeenth century: "As a preparation, there are 

 ranged on the upper deck, on both sides, tubs fuU of sea-water, and sailors, 

 formed in two rows, stand near, each with a bucket in his hand. The chief 

 steward comes to the foot of the mainmast, his face fuUbearded, and his 

 body attired in gaskets, entirely surrounding him, and ropes' ends hanging 

 from his arms. He is followed by five or six sailors, equipped in the same 

 manner, and holds in his hand some marine book, to represent the Gospels 

 of the Evangelists. The man who is to be baptized kneels before the steward. 



