The Twentietli Century 195 



phibious assaults. Ours had a complement of some 22 men and 3 officers in 

 the ship's company, with two officer passengers, these two being connected 

 with the LCI Flotilla StafiE. We were traveling in a convoy of about 32 ships, 

 mostly LCIs, mine sweepers, and submarine chasers. Our point of crossing 

 was on a more or less direct une between the Panama Canal and Bora Bora 

 in the western group of the Society Islands. 



We had discovered soon after leaving Norfolk that the entire ship's com- 

 pany was made up of poUywogs. Of the whole gang of us, only one officer 

 passenger, a young Heutenant (jg) in the Supply Corps who had come up 

 through the ranks, had ever been initiated into the mysteries of crossing the 

 hne. Needless to say, he filled oiur ears with aU sorts of blood curdHng yams 

 about what we were about to face. We allowed him to have his sport until 

 it became tiresome to us and then pointed out to him that if he felt that he 

 alone was going to play each role from King Neptune down to the Royal 

 Baby while attempting to grease and cHp a whole shipload of unwilling 

 sailors, he had his work cut out for himself. 



He, being a reasonable man, saw the logic of this, and except for uttering 

 a few dark threats about seeing to it that we would not get our shellback 

 certfficates, he subsided and held his peace. Consequently, the day we crossed 

 the line we spent several hours loimging on the deck watching through bi- 

 noculars the ordeals and torments being imdergone by those no more inex- 

 perienced than ourselves who were merely imfortunate enough to find 

 themselves aboard ships vsdth strong shellback parties. 



Later in the war and in connection with operations in New Guinea and the 

 Phillipines, I crossed the equator several times, but each time was aboard a 

 ship that was criss-crossing back and forth regularly, so that aU hands were 

 shellbacks several times over. So by the end of the war, I had crossed the 

 equator about 6 times in each direction, and the nearest I had come to an 

 initiation was a few hundred yards while watching the ceremony through 

 field glasses. 



Therefore I was greatly pleased in 1946 in connection with an Antarctic 

 expedition ( Operation Highjump ) to be on hand for and to participate in a 

 bona fide crossing-the-hne ceremony. We crossed aboard the USCGC North- 

 wind, an icebreaker, in mid-December on a great circle course from Panama 

 to Scott Island in the Antarctic Ocean. On the leg from Norfolk to Panama, 

 the shellbacks had gotten together and been assigned ovir roles. Being a Naval 

 Officer aboard a Coast Guard Cutter, I was automatically suspect and was 

 assigned the role of Defense Attorney for the pollywogs — a position of some 

 dehcacy in that it sometimes happens that if the Defense Attorney makes 

 too eloquent a plea, things may become so unruly that he finds himself sub- 

 jected to various indignities along with his cHents. 



In Panama City, a delegation went ashore and purchased various costumes 

 and trimmings, and the first few days at sea were spent in building a large 

 open canvas water tank below and just aft of the hehcopter ffight deck. A 

 straight backed chair was secured to the flight deck by hinges on its back 



