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{{Short description|Initiation rite for first crossing of the equator}}
{{Cleanup rewrite|the structure, layout, grammar and style are poor|date=March 2017}}{{more citations needed|date=July 2016}}
The '''line-crossing ceremony''' is an [[initiation rite]] in some [[English-speaking]] countries that commemorates a person's first crossing of the [[Equator]].<ref>Eyers, Jonathan (2011). ''Don't Shoot the Albatross!: Nautical Myths and Superstitions''. A&C Black, London, UK. {{ISBN|978-1-4081-3131-2}}.</ref> The tradition may have originated with ceremonies when passing headlands, and become a "folly" sanctioned as a boost to morale,<ref name="FitzRoy">[[Robert FitzRoy]] (1839) ''Narrative of the surveying voyages of His Majesty's Ships Adventure and Beagle between the years 1826 and 1836'', London: Henry Colburn. pp. [http://darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?viewtype=text&itemID=F10.2&pageseq=84 57–58].</ref> or have been created as a test for seasoned sailors to ensure their new shipmates were capable of handling long, rough voyages. Equator-crossing ceremonies, typically featuring [[Neptune (mythology)|King Neptune]], are common in the [[Navy]] and are also sometimes carried out for passengers' entertainment on civilian ocean liners and cruise ships. They are also performed in the [[merchant navy]] and aboard sail training ships.

Throughout history, line-crossing ceremonies have sometimes become dangerous [[Hazing|hazing rituals]]. Most modern navies have instituted regulations that prohibit physical attacks on sailors undergoing the line-crossing ceremony.

== Traditions ==

=== Australia ===
In 1995, a notorious line-crossing ceremony took place on the [[Royal Australian Navy]] submarine {{HMAS|Onslow}}. Sailors undergoing the ceremony were physically and verbally abused before being subjected to an act called "sump on the rump", where a dark liquid was daubed over each sailor's [[anus]] and [[genitalia]]. One sailor was then [[sexual assault|sexually assaulted]] with a long stick before all sailors undergoing the ceremony were forced to jump overboard and tread water until permitted to climb back aboard the submarine. A videotape of the ceremony was obtained by the [[Nine Network]] and aired on Australian television. The coverage provoked widespread criticism, especially when the videotape showed some of the submarine's officers watching the entire proceedings from the conning tower.<ref>[http://www.aamh.asn.au/news/0076.pdf ''The Australian Association of Maritime History'' newsletter, September 1999] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050710062918/http://www.aamh.asn.au/news/0076.pdf|date=July 10, 2005}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.milism.net/hotbunk.htm#cl|title=Navy submarine hot bunking|date=1993-06-22|publisher=Milism.net|access-date=2013-11-18}}</ref>

=== Canada ===
In the [[Royal Canadian Navy]], those who have not yet crossed the equator are nicknamed ''Tadpoles'', or ''Dirty Tadpoles''; an earlier nickname was ''griffins''.<ref name="Darwin">Keynes, R. D. ed. (2001) ''Charles Darwin's Beagle diary'', Cambridge University Press, pp. [http://darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?viewtype=text&itemID=F1925&pageseq=68 36–38].</ref>

=== France ===
The French author [[François-Timoléon de Choisy]] crossed the equator in April 1685 (aboard the ''Oiseau'' bound for [[Siam]]), and had the following to say about their tradition: 
<blockquote>"...we had the ceremony this morning. All the sailors who had already crossed it were armed with tongs, pincers, cooking pots and cauldrons... This company, after having done their drill, lined up beside a bucket or tub full of water, in which according to the ancient rite everyone who had not yet crossed the Line had to be dipped. His Excellency the Ambassador appeared before the court first, and promised, with his hand on a map of the world, to observe the ceremony, if ever he recrossed the Line, and in order not to be doused he put in the basin a fistful of silver. I did the same, as did all the officers, and those who had the wherewithal to buy their way out. The rest were plunged into the tub, and drenched in twenty buckets of water. Nearly sixty crowns were collected, which will be spent on buying refreshments for the crew".{{sfn|de Choisy|1993|page=60}}</blockquote>

=== United Kingdom ===
[[File:Line-crossing ceremony aboard Méduse-Jules de Caudin-IMG 4783-cropped.JPG|thumb|Line-crossing ceremony aboard [[French frigate Méduse (1810)|''Méduse'']] on the first of July 1816.]]
By the eighteenth century, there were well-established line-crossing rituals in the [[Royal Navy|British Royal Navy]]. On the voyage of [[HMS Endeavour|HMS ''Endeavour'']] to the Pacific in 1768, captained by [[James Cook]], [[Joseph Banks]] described how the crew drew up a list of everyone on board, including cats and dogs, and interrogated them as to whether they had crossed the equator. If they had not, they must choose to give up their allowance of wine for four days, or undergo a ducking ceremony in which they were ducked three times into the ocean. According to Banks, some of those ducked were "grinning and exulting in their hardiness", but others "were almost suffocated".<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Endeavour Journal of Joseph Banks, 1768-1771|last=Banks|first=Joseph|publisher=Angus and Robertson|year=1962|editor-last=Beaglehole|editor-first=J.C.|location=Sydney|pages=1: 176–7}}</ref>

Captain [[Robert FitzRoy]] of {{HMS|Beagle}} suggested the practice had developed from earlier ceremonies in Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian vessels passing notable [[headland]]s. He thought it was beneficial to morale. FitzRoy quoted [[Otto von Kotzebue]]'s 1830 description in his 1839 ''Narrative of the Surveying Voyages of His Majesty's Ships'' Adventure ''and'' Beagle ''between the Years 1826 and 1836''.<ref name="FitzRoy" /><ref name="Kotzebue">[[Otto von Kotzebue]] (1830) [http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25693/25693-h/25693-h.htm ''A New Voyage Round the World''], Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, London: [[Project Gutenberg]] eBook.</ref>

<!--The following text has been commented out as it currently seems to serve no purpose other than to promote a book. If possible, please use the book mentioned as a source to describe the ceremony on board HMS Blossom. Remove this comment when the problem is resolved--><!--There is a detailed account of the ceremony on board [[HMS Blossom (1806)|HMS ''Blossom'']] in 1825 by Petty Officer John Béchervaise in his private publication ''Thirty-Six Years of a Sea Faring Life'' (1839), available from publishers in facsimile.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/thirtysixyearsa00mastgoog|page=[https://archive.org/details/thirtysixyearsa00mastgoog/page/n146 146]|title=Thirty-six Years of Seafaring Life |year=1839 |place=Portsea, Hampshire |publisher=Printed and published by W. Woodward; and sold by Longman & Co., London}}</ref> ''Blossom'' was just starting a three-year voyage of exploration around the Horn to the Arctic. His great-great-grandson, an Antarctic explorer, was also named [[John Béchervaise]].-->
<!--This comment prevents an extra gap. Please see above comment about previous paragraph. This comment should be removed when resolving the mentioned problem-->
A similar ceremony took place during the [[Second voyage of HMS Beagle|second survey voyage of HMS ''Beagle'']]. As they approached the equator on the evening of 16 February 1832, a pseudo-Neptune hailed the ship. Those credulous enough to run forward to see Neptune "were received with the watery honours which it is customary to bestow".<ref name="FitzRoy" /> The officer on watch reported a boat ahead, and Captain FitzRoy ordered "hands up, shorten sail". Using a speaking trumpet he questioned Neptune, who would visit them the next morning. About 9 am the next day, the novices or "griffins" were assembled in the darkness and heat of the lower deck, then one at a time were blindfolded and led up on deck by "four of Neptunes constables", as "buckets of water were thundered all around". The first "griffin" was [[Charles Darwin]], who noted in his diary how he "was then placed on a plank, which could be easily tilted up into a large bath of water. — They then lathered my face & mouth with pitch and paint, & scraped some of it off with a piece of roughened iron hoop. —a signal being given I was tilted head over heels into the water, where two men received me & ducked me. —at last, glad enough, I escaped. — most of the others were treated much worse, dirty mixtures being put in their mouths & rubbed on their faces. — The whole ship was a shower bath: & water was flying about in every direction: of course not one person, even the Captain, got clear of being wet through." The ship's artist, [[Augustus Earle]], made a sketch of the scene.<ref name="Darwin" />

=== United States ===
The [[United States Navy|U.S. Navy]], [[United States Coast Guard|U.S. Coast Guard]] and United States Marines have well-established line-crossing rituals. Sailors who have already crossed the Equator are nicknamed ''Shellbacks'', ''Trusty Shellbacks'', ''Honorable Shellbacks'', or ''Sons of [[Neptune (mythology)|Neptune]]''. Those who have not crossed are nicknamed ''Pollywogs'', or ''Slimy Pollywogs,'' or sometimes simply ''Slimy Wogs.''

==== History ====
In the 18th century and earlier, the line-crossing ceremony was quite a brutal event,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://blog.marinersmuseum.org/2019/09/baptism-at-the-waist-of-the-world/|title=Baptism at the 'Waist of the World'|publisher=Mariner Museum|author=Jeanne Willoz-Egnor|language=English|date=10 September 2019|accessdate=21 December 2021}}</ref> often involving beating pollywogs with boards and wet ropes and sometimes throwing the victims over the side of the ship, dragging the pollywog through the surf from the stern.  In more than one instance, sailors were reported to have been killed while participating in a line-crossing ceremony.

Baptism on the line, also called equatorial baptism, is an alternative initiation ritual sometimes performed as a ship crosses the Equator, involving water [[baptism]] of passengers or crew who have never crossed the Equator before.<ref name=":0">{{cite book|title=[[Tom Swift and His Big Tunnel]]|last=Appleton|first=Victor|publisher=Grosset & Dunlap|year=1916|volume=19|chapter=IX. The Bomb|quote=The Bellaconda "crossed the line," and there was the usual horseplay among the sailors when Father Neptune came aboard to hold court. Those who had never before been below the equator were made to undergo more or less of an initiation, being lathered and shaved, and then pushed backward into a canvas tank of water on deck.}}</ref> The ceremony is sometimes explained as being an initiation into the court of [[Neptune (mythology)|King Neptune]].

The ritual is the subject of a painting by Matthew Benedict named ''The Mariner's Baptism'' and of a 1961 book by Henning Henningsen named ''Crossing the Equator: Sailor's Baptism and Other Initiation Rites''.<ref name=":1">[http://www.alexanderandbonin.com/exhibitions/benedict/2003/benedict3.htm Matthew Benedict - Crossing the Line] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060211092917/http://www.alexanderandbonin.com/exhibitions/benedict/2003/benedict3.htm|date=February 11, 2006}}</ref>
[[File:Domain of Neptunus Rex WWII PT Boat Pete Verrier.tif|thumb|A [[World War II]] example illustrated by Pete Verrier.]]
U.S. President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] described his crossing-the-line ceremony aboard the "Happy Ship" {{USS|Indianapolis|CA-35|6}} with his "Jolly Companions" in a letter to his wife [[Eleanor Roosevelt]] on 26 November 1936.<ref>{{cite book|title=Eleanor Roosevelt, vol. 2 (1933-1938)|last=Cook|author-link=Blanche Weisen Cook|first=Blanche|publisher=Penguin|year=1999|ISBN=978-0140178944|location=New York|page=[https://archive.org/details/eleanorroosevelt00blan_0/page/398 398]|url=https://archive.org/details/eleanorroosevelt00blan_0/page/398}}</ref>  Later, during [[World War II]], the frequency of the ceremony increased dramatically, especially in the U.S. Navy in the Pacific, where the service's fleet operations grew enormously to counter widely dispersed Japanese forces.<ref>By the end of WW II, the United States Navy had added nearly 1,200 major combatant vessels to its combined fleet.  This amounted to over 70% of the world's total number of military ships measuring 1,000 tons or greater. King, Ernest J., USN. "Major Combatant Ships Added to United States Fleet, 7 December 1941 - 1 October 1945", ibiblio.org. US Navy at War 1941-1945: Official Report to the Secretary of the Navy. Retrieved June 7, 2017.</ref> As late as World War II, the line-crossing ceremony was still rather rough and involved activities such as the "Devil's Tongue", which was an electrified piece of metal poked into the sides of those deemed pollywogs.  Beatings were often still common, usually with wet firehoses, and several World War II Navy deck logs speak of sailors visiting [[sick bay]] after crossing the line.{{Citation needed|date=October 2018}}

Efforts to curtail the line-crossing ceremony did not begin until the 1980s, when several reports of blatant [[hazing]] began to circulate regarding the line-crossing ceremony, and at least one death was attributed to abuse while crossing the line.{{Citation needed|date=November 2015}}
[[File:ShellbackCertificate1928.jpg|thumb|Shellback certificate awarded to Charles Cameron, aboard {{USS|Utah|BB-31|6}}, commemorating his first crossing of the Equator, December 1, 1928. This is typical of certificates awarded in the pre-World War II period.]]
[[File:Shellback Certificate for Robert C Fay aboard USS Diphda (AKA-59) on 28 August 1945.jpg|thumb|Shellback certificate for Bob Fay aboard {{USS|Diphda|AKA-59|6}} for crossing the Equator in the Pacific at the end of World War II, August 1945.]]
[[File:USS Triton SSRN-586 - Crossing the Equator - Operation Sandblast - 1960.jpg|thumb|Crossing the equator ceremony (with "Davy Jones" with yellow cape and a plunger as sceptre) aboard {{USS|Triton|SSRN-586|6}}, 24 February 1960 as part of the [[Operation Sandblast]] cruise]]
[[File:Blue_Ridge_CROSSING_THE_LINE_1971_wog_charges.jpg|thumb|right|{{USS|Blue Ridge|LCC-19|6}} CTL. Wog summons. Steaming to Rio de Janeiro on 26 February 1971.]]
[[File:Blue_Ridge_CROSSING_THE_LINE_1971_wog_summons.jpg|thumb|right|{{USS|Blue Ridge|LCC-19|6}} CTL.  Wog charges. Steaming to Rio de Janeiro on 26 February 1971.]]
[[File:Blue_Ridge_CROSSING_THE_LINE_1971_Whipping_Time.jpg|thumb|right|{{USS|Blue Ridge|LCC-19|6}} "Whipping Time". Steaming to Rio de Janeiro on 26 February 1971.]]
[[File:Crossing the Line Ceremony, USS Blue Ridge (LCC 19) on 16 May 2008.JPG|right|thumb|250px|U.S. Sailors and Marines participate in a line-crossing ceremony aboard {{USS|Blue Ridge|LCC-19|6}} as the ship passes the Equator May 16, 2008. It has been a long naval tradition to initiate pollywogs (sailors who have never crossed the Equator) into the Kingdom of [[Neptune (mythology)|Neptune]] upon their first crossing of the Equator.]]
[[File:Neptune Day Fall 2013 Semester At Sea.jpg|thumb|Neptune Day celebration on the Fall 2013 voyage of [[Semester at Sea]]]]

==== Today ====
The two-day event (evening and day) is a ritual in which previously inducted crew members (Trusty Shellbacks) are organized into a "Court of Neptune" and induct the Slimy Pollywogs into "the mysteries of the Deep".<ref name="Richardson">{{cite journal|last=Richardson|first=Keith P.|date=1 April 1977|title=Western Folklore|volume=36|issue=2|pages=154–159}}</ref> Physical hardship, in keeping with the spirit of the initiation, is tolerated, and each Pollywog is expected to endure a standard initiation rite in order to become a Shellback.<ref name="Richardson" /> Depending on the Ocean or Fleet AOR, there can be variations in the rite. Some rites have discussed a role reversal as follows, but this is not always a normal feature, and may be dependent on whether a small number of Shellbacks exist to conduct the initiation.

The transition flows from established order to the "controlled chaos" of the Pollywog Revolt, the beginnings of re-order in the initiation rite as the fewer but experienced enlisted crew converts the Wogs through physical tests, then back to, and thereby affirming, the pre-established order of officers and enlisted.

The eve of the equatorial crossing is called Wog Day and, as with many other night-before rituals, is a mild type of reversal of the day to come. Wogs (all of the uninitiated) are allowed to capture and interrogate any Shellbacks they can find (e.g., tying them up, cracking eggs or pouring aftershave lotion on their heads).{{Citation needed|date=September 2009}} The Wogs are made very aware that it will be much harder on them if they do anything like this.
[[File:Chrzest równikowy 4.JPG|thumb|Neptune and his entourage during a Polish line-crossing ceremony (''Chrzest równikowy'')]]

After crossing the line, Pollywogs receive subpoenas<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.usni.org/store/item.asp?ITEM_ID=1239|title=Ceremonial Certificates - Neptune Subpoena|publisher=Usni.org|access-date=2013-11-18}}</ref> to appear before ''King Neptune and his court'' (usually including his first assistant [[Davy Jones' Locker|Davy Jones]] and her Highness [[Amphitrite]] and often various dignitaries, who are all represented by the highest-ranking sailors who are Shellbacks), who officiate at the ceremony, which is often preceded by a beauty contest of men dressing up as women, each department of the ship being required to introduce one contestant in swimsuit drag. Afterwards, some may be "interrogated" by King Neptune and his entourage, and the use of "truth serum" (hot sauce + after shave) and whole uncooked eggs put in the mouth. During the ceremony, the Pollywogs undergo a number of increasingly embarrassing ordeals (wearing clothing inside out and backwards; crawling on hands and knees on nonskid-coated decks; being swatted with short lengths of firehose; being locked in stocks & pillories and pelted with mushy fruit; being locked in a water coffin of salt-water and bright green sea dye [fluorescent sodium salt]; crawling through chutes or large tubs of rotting garbage; kissing the Royal Baby's belly coated with axle grease, hair chopping, etc.), largely for the entertainment of the Shellbacks.

Once the ceremony is complete, a Pollywog receives a certificate<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.usni.org/store/item.asp?ITEM_ID=1449|title=Ceremonial Certificates - Golden Shellback Certificate - Personalized}}</ref> declaring his new status. Another rare status is the ''Golden Shellback'', a person who has crossed the [[Equator]] at the [[180th meridian]]. The rarest Shellback status is that of the ''Emerald Shellback'' (US), or ''Royal Diamond Shellback'' (Commonwealth), which is received after crossing the Equator at the [[prime meridian]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq92-3.htm|title=Commemorative Certificates|publisher=History.navy.mil|access-date=18 November 2013}}</ref> near the [[Null Island]] weather buoy. When a ship must cross the Equator reasonably close to one of these meridians, the ship's captain might plot a course across the ''Golden X'' so that the ship's crew can be initiated as Golden or Emerald/Royal Diamond Shellbacks. {{Citation needed|date=September 2009}}

In the [[PBS]] documentary ''[[Carrier (documentary)|Carrier]],'' filmed in 2005 (Episode 7, "Rites of Passage"), a crossing-the-line ceremony on {{USS|Nimitz}} is extensively documented. The ceremony is carefully orchestrated by the ship's officers, with some sailors reporting the events to be lackluster due to the removal of the rites of initiation.

Reflecting the popularity of [[Sailor tattoos|tattoos among sailors]], some people choose to get tattoos to mark that they have participated in a ceremony, such as an image of a shellback turtle or King Neptune.<ref name=":4">{{Cite web |date=28 May 2020 |title=Every tattoo makes a statement but what do they mean? |url=https://thedockyard.co.uk/news/every-tattoo-is-a-statement-but-what-do-they-mean/ |access-date=2022-05-28 |website=Chatham Historic Dockyard Trust |language=en-GB}}</ref>

==== Honors for line crossings and other navigational events ====
As Shellback initiation is conducted by each individual ship as a morale exercise and not officially recognized by the Navy with inclusion on discharge papers ([[DD Form 214]]) or through a formally organized institution, variations of the names as well as the protocol involved in induction vary from ship to ship and service to service.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.history.navy.mil/browse-by-topic/heritage/customs-and-traditions/crossing-the-line-plank-owner-and-other-unofficial-certificates-acquired-by-naval-personnel.html|title=The Certified Sailor|last1=Silvey|first1=Frank|website=Naval History and Heritage Command|publisher=US Navy|access-date=3 July 2017}}</ref>

Unique Shellback designations have been given to special circumstances which include:

*The '''''Star Spangled Shellbacks''''' being given to the crew of {{USS|Franklin D. Roosevelt|CVA-42|6}} crossing the equator on July 4, 1966. Most recently the crew of {{USCGC|Steadfast |WMEC-623|}} earned it on July 4, 2023, making the 2nd documented US vessel to do so. It is not known if this designation has ever been used before or since, as no other mention of such honor has been located to date.
*The '''''Iron Shellback''''' for the crew who served on {{USS|Dwight D. Eisenhower|CVN-69}}, [[USS Vella Gulf (CG-72)]], [[USS Paul Hamilton (DDG-60)]] and {{USS|San Jacinto|CG-56}}, who crossed the equator during a 200+ consecutive day underway with no ports during their 2020 deployment.

Variations to the Shellback designation include: {{anchor|Special Awards}}

*The ''Order of the '''Ebony Shellback''''' for maritime personnel who have crossed the Equator on [[Lake Victoria]].
*The '''''Emerald Shellback''''' or '''''Royal Diamond Shellback''''' for maritime personnel who cross the [[Null Island|Equator at the prime meridian]].
*The '''''Golden Shellback''''' for maritime personnel who have crossed the point where the [[Equator]] crosses the [[180th meridian]].
*The '''''Top Secret Shellback''''' for submariners who have crossed the equator at a classified degree of longitude.
*The '''''Wooden Shellback''''' for maritime personnel who have crossed the equator on a vessel with a wooden hull.

[[File:Card_for_Imperial_Domain_of_Golden_Dragon_issued_to_US_sailor_G._S._Fulghum_1944.jpg|thumb|"Imperial Domain of Golden Dragon" card given to Graham S. Fulghum aboard {{USS|Manatee|AO-58|6}}, marking his first crossing of the 180th meridian, 11 June 1944.]]

Consequently, similar "fraternities" commemorating other significant milestones in one's career include:<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.history.navy.mil/browse-by-topic/heritage/customs-and-traditions/crossing-the-line/list-of-unofficial-us-navy-certificates.html|title=List of Unofficial U.S. Navy Certificates|last1=Director of Naval History|website=Naval History and Heritage Command|publisher=US Navy|access-date=3 July 2017}}</ref>
<!--

Orders have been organized alphabetically by name, excluding order/domain/realm with Shellback awards above

-->

*The ''Order of the '''Blue Nose''''' (Domain of the Polar Bear) for maritime personnel who have crossed the [[Arctic Circle]].
*The '''''Caterpillar Club''''' for aviators who have made an unscheduled parachute jump from a disabled plane.
*The '''''Century Club''''' for aviators who have completed their 100th carrier landing.
*The ''Realm of the '''Czars''''' for maritime personnel who crossed into the [[Black Sea]].
*The ''Order of the '''Ditch''''' for maritime personnel who have passed through the [[Panama Canal]].
*'''''Golden Dragon''''', including the ''[[Domain of the Golden Dragon]]'', ''Realm of the Golden Dragon'', ''Imperial Order of the Golden Dragon'', or ''Sacred Order of the Golden Dragon'', for maritime personnel who have crossed the [[180th meridian]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=September 27, 2017 |title=List of Unofficial U.S. Navy Certificates |url=https://www.history.navy.mil/browse-by-topic/heritage/customs-and-traditions0/unofficial-navy-certificates/list-of-unofficial-us-navy-certificates.html |access-date=April 23, 2024 |website=Naval History and Heritage Command}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |last=Silvey |first=Frank |date=October 1969 |title=The Certified Sailor |url=https://www.navy.mil/ah_online/archpdf/ah196910.pdf |magazine=[[All Hands]] |location=[[Navy Annex]], [[Arlington, Virginia]] |publisher=U.S. Navy Bureau of Naval Personnel |access-date=14 September 2018 |number=633|issn=0002-5577 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180915001743/https://www.navy.mil/ah_online/archpdf/ah196910.pdf |archive-date=September 15, 2018 |pages=17, 19}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Wilkins |first=Charles |date=March 20, 2017 |title=Royal Order of Purple Porpoises |url=https://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/okeanos/explorations/ex1703/logs/mar20/welcome.html |website=NASA Ocean Exploration}}</ref>
*The ''Order of the '''Lakes''''' for maritime personnel who have sailed on all five [[Great Lakes]].
*The ''Order of '''Magellan''''' for maritime personnel who [[circumnavigated]] the Earth.
*The '''''Magellan's''' Strait Jacket Club'' for maritime personnel who transited the [[Straits of Magellan]].
*The ''Order of the '''Flying Dutchman''''' for maritime personnel who have sailed around the [[Cape of Good Hope]].
*The '''''Moss Back''''' for maritime personnel who have sailed around the tip of South America (Cape Horn).
*The ''Order of the '''Golden Oscar''''' for maritime personnel who have served with the [[Navy Office of Information West|Entertainment Liaison Office]].
*'''''Persian Excursion''' - The Society of the Arabian Nights'' for maritime personnel who have served in the [[Persian Gulf]].
*'''''Plank Owner''''' for personnel stationed to a ship or shore command when that ship or unit was created, placed in commission, or in some cases removed from commission.
*The ''Order of '''Purple Porpoises''''' for maritime personnel who crossed the junction of the [[Equator]] and the [[International Date Line]] at the Sacred Hour of the Vernal [[Equinox]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.shortsnorter.org/Harry_Revers_Short_Snorter.html|title=The Short Snorter Project - Harry F. Revers Short Snorter|website=www.shortsnorter.org}}</ref>
*The ''Order of the '''Red Nose''''' (Domain of the Penguin) for maritime personnel who have crossed the [[Antarctic Circle]].
*The ''Order of the '''Rock''''' for maritime personnel who have transited the [[Strait of Gibraltar]].
*The '''Safari to Suez''' or '''The Order of Mariners of the Desert''' for maritime personnel who have transited the [[Suez Canal]].
*The ''Order of the '''Sand Squid''''' (or '''Sand Sailor''') for maritime personnel who have been attached to land-based Army or Marine units stationed in the Middle East.
*The ''Order of the '''Spanish Main''''' for maritime personnel who have sailed in the Caribbean.
*The ''Order of the '''Sparrow''''' for maritime personnel who sailed on all [[seven seas]].
*The ''Order of the '''Square Rigger''''' for maritime personnel who have served aboard {{USCGC|Eagle|WIX-327|6}} or {{USS|Constitution}}.
*The ''Order of the '''Black Hulls''''' for sailors and Coast Guardsmen who have sailed aboard a black-hulled vessel, a term for buoy tenders with hulls painted black.

==== California Maritime Academy ====
[[California State University Maritime Academy|California Maritime Academy]] observed the line-crossing ceremony until 1989, after which the ceremony was deemed to be hazing and was forbidden. The 1989 crossing was fairly typical, as it was not realized to be the last one. Pollywogs participated voluntarily, though female [[midshipmen]] observed that they were under social pressure to do the ceremony but were targets of harder abuse.{{Citation needed|date=February 2011}}  Pollywogs (midshipmen and anyone else who had not crossed) ascended a ladder from the forecastle to the superstructure deck of the ship. There, they crawled down a gauntlet of Shellbacks on both sides of a long, heavy canvas runner, about 10–12 meters. The shellbacks had prepared 3-foot lengths of canvas/rubber firehose, which they swung hard at the posterior of each Wog. The Wogs then ascended a ladder to the boat deck to slide down a makeshift chute into the baptism of messdeck leavings in sea water in an inflated liferaft back on the superstructure deck. Wogs then returned to the [[forecastle]], where they were hosed off by firehose and then allowed to kiss, in turn, the belly of the sea-baby, the foot of the sea-hag, and the ring of [[Neptune (god)|King Neptune]], each personified by Shellbacks.{{Citation needed|date=February 2011}}

==== Others ====
[[State University of New York Maritime College|SUNY Maritime]] occasionally holds a Blue Nose ceremony for its cadets after crossing the Arctic Circle. Their most recent ceremony was during the summer of 2019, on the [[TS Empire State VI|TSES VI]], held shortly after departing [[Reykjavík|Reykjavik]]. Cadets crawled through a tunnel with [[lo mein]], or "Eel Spawn", and then had food put in their hair before crawling through the [[Stern|fantail]] while being sprayed by fire hoses.{{citation needed|date=November 2024}}

Colorado State University's [[Semester at Sea]] Program holds a line-crossing ceremony twice a year for its students when their vessel, [[Blue Dream Star]], crosses the equator.{{citation needed|date=November 2024}}

==See also==
* [[Domain of the Golden Dragon]]
* [[Blood wings]]
* [[Roof stomp]]

== Bibliography ==
* Bronner, Simon J. (2006). ''Crossing the Line: Violence, Play, and Drama in Naval Equator Traditions''. Meertens Ethnology Cahier no. 2. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press.

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

=== Sources ===
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite book |last=de Choisy |first=Abbé |title=Journal of a Voyage to Siam: 1685-1686 (Translated and Introduced by Michael Smithies) |year=1993 |publisher= [[Oxford University Press]]|location=Kuala Lumpur|isbn= 967-65-3026-3}}
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Line-crossing ceremonies}}
* {{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/crossinglinetale00lyde| title=Crossing the Line|author=Lydenberg, Harry Miller| publisher=New York Public Library| place=New York| year=1957}}
*[http://www.themystica.com/mystica/articles/b/baptism_on_the_line.html Brief description of equatorial baptism]
*Some accounts of baptism on the line:
:*[http://www.anitavacation.com/articles/cruise/crossingequator.shtml] - The Anti-Vacation
:*[http://www.pust-norden.de/aequ_gb.htm] - Pust-Norden
:*[https://web.archive.org/web/20051122024823/http://archive.greenpeace.org/oceans/stoppiratefishing/expedition/may19.html] - [[Greenpeace]]

* [https://www.ngataonga.org.nz/collections/search?text=crossing%20the%20equator&i%5Bhas_media%5D=true&i%5Bmedia_type%5D=AUDIO Listen to audio recordings of a Crossing the Equator ceremony] on board a New Zealand troopship in 1940 (the Canadian-Pacific line's "Empress of Japan" which had been requisitioned for war service)

*[https://web.archive.org/web/20090220211300/http://nsrc.sfsu.edu/article/sailor_men_homoerotic_rituals Line-crossing Ceremony: Homophobic or Homoerotic?]
*[http://www.alexanderandbonin.com/exhibitions/benedict/2003/benedict3.htm Matthew Benedict's painting]
*[http://ww2db.com/other.php?other_id=17 WW2DB: Line Crossing Ceremony]
*[http://www.vimeo.com/1307570 Video of 1957 Coast Guard crossing ritual]
*[http://ussbaileydd492.org/600_pollywogs_and_shellbacks.html USS Bailey web page] on ships' ceremony.
*[https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Blue_Ridge_UP_DATE_1973-09_file_06_of_20.jpg USS Blue Ridge (LCC-19) UPDATE of 1973 CTL.]
*[[:pt:Rito de passagem da linha do Equador|Crossing Line ceremony (Portuguese)]]

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[[Category:Maritime folklore]]
[[Category:Naval ceremonies]]
[[Category:Rites of passage]]
[[Category:United States Navy traditions]]
[[Category:Royal Navy traditions]]
[[Category:Neptune (mythology)]]
[[Category:Hazing]]