Four days later we crossed the Equator, and here the time-honoured ceremony of “crossing the line” took place. All who have not been over the line before, officers and men alike, have to be ducked and submitted to various other indignities before they can be considered “freemen” of the Sea King’s domain.
On the previous night officers and men impersonating Neptune and his Court had paraded the ship with an impromptu band, and in the morning a huge canvas bath was rigged up on the fo’c’sle, with a rude throne for Neptune at one end. After lunch the fun began. The bears were already splashing about in the bath ready to duck the neophytes when Neptune and his staff had finished with them. One of our lieutenants was the first victim. The Sea King, gorgeously arrayed in red and yellow bunting, with a cardboard crown set on his hempen wig, asks each in turn if he has ever crossed the line before, but no sooner does the unfortunate open his mouth to reply, than a large brush dripping with whitewash is slapped in his face! He is then liberally whitewashed all over by Neptune’s merry men and tipped over backwards into the bath.
Here the bears seize upon him and pass him along to the other end, each one ducking him as he goes, after which his ordeal is finished, and he can watch his messmates being served in the same way.
Our Gunnery Lieutenant at first hid, but he was soon routed out and carried, kicking and struggling, before the tribunal. He had reason to regret his attempt to shirk, for by this time the whitewash had run out, so he was treated to a plastering of black paint, sand, and water instead; and, further, given a spoonful of “medicine” made up of mustard, pepper, salt, oil, and sea-water all mixed together, after which he was duly tipped backwards into the bath!
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Maybe sober-minded people will think all this very silly—childish—almost improper in view of the serious business on which they were engaged. But let it be remembered that, in the words of Kipling: “The Navy is very old and very wise.” She cherishes her traditions, and knows well that the observance of an old ceremony in which officers and men take part without distinction of class tends to foster that immortal spirit of comradeship which is one of the most valuable assets of the service, and by no means the least important secret of our sea-power. For the rest, time enough to think of War when the call to “action” has been sounded off. They work best who know how to play.
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The performance lasted until 4 o’clock, when we all went below, changed, and had tea.
We had now been at sea for a little over a fortnight, and fresh water was getting very scarce. By order of the Commander all washing of clothes had already been forbidden; but on the next day the rain came. It was practically the first since we left Bombay, and it rained in a truly tropical manner, coming down literally in sheets.