[Here the captain presented him with three quarts of rum.]
Nept. (filling a glass.) Here’s health to you, captain, and success to our cause. Have you got any fresh-water sailors on board? for if you have, I must christen them, so as to make them useful to our king and country.
Capt. We have eight of them on board at your service; I therefore wish you good morning.
The procession then returned in the same manner as it came, the candidates for nautical fame following in the rear; after descending the fore-hatchway they congregated between decks, when all the offerings to Neptune were given to the deputy, (the cook,) consisting of whiskey, tobacco, &c. The barber then stood ready with his box of lather, and the landsmen were ordered before Neptune, when the following dialogue took place with each, only with the alteration of the man’s name, as follows:—
Nept. (to another.) What is your name?
Ans. Gilbert Nicholson.
Nept. Where do you come from?
Ans. Shetland.
Nept. Have you ever been to sea before?
Ans. No.