
400 Years of Equator Hazings: Surviving the Wrath of King Neptune's Court - Thevet
http://www.collectorsweekly.com/articles/400-years-of-equator-hazings/
======
dctoedt
In the U.S. Navy, the line-crossing initiation is voluntary, or at least it
was when I was in, but it's kind of expected. One of my roommates aboard the
USS Enterprise (the aircraft carrier) was an older warrant officer; he'd
become a trusty shellback as an enlisted man, but when he got his warrant, the
record was misplaced. So when we crossed the line, he went through the
initiation again, with the rest of us slimy pollywogs, so that it'd be in his
records again. He was a good sport about it.

~~~
hudibras
In the USN now, it's completely voluntary and there are very strict rules on
what can occur during the ceremony. And probably close to 100% of the senior
officers in the Navy are (at least privately) completely supportive of the new
policy; the old initiation rituals were definitely illegal and were a constant
source of concern for Navy leadership.

In a crew of hundreds, there will always be a handful of honest-to-god sadists
who would delight in the chance to pour hot sauce on wogs' genitals and make
them crawl on hot non-skidded decks. So one trick the ships do now is to have
a all-hands call to announce the ground rules, secretly note the names of
everybody who complains about it being too lenient and then make sure that
those guys are standing watch during the ceremony.

P.S. Shellback since 1998...

~~~
jonah
About what percentage of wogs choose to go through initiation these days? Does
it carry any cachet if they do vs. not?

------
LeChuck
Great story. Having undergone the hazing on a Dutch merchant ship, what stands
out to me is how similar the rituals are across countries.

I had almost the exact same experience as the author, only including head
shaving.

P.S. Here is my certificate:
[http://imgur.com/TPcQ2zu](http://imgur.com/TPcQ2zu). I always take it with me
on board, don't feel a particular need to do it again.

------
moron4hire
I crossed a few times as a passenger on a boat in the Galapagos Islands. One
of the Australian passengers made mention of it, but the Ecuadorian crew acted
like they knew nothing about it. Kind of disappointed nothing was made out of
it.

That was also the time I drank the Vice Governor of Bermuda under the table.
He, being a vain Scotsman, thought Americans knew nothing about whisky. I,
being one who is not culturally retarded in the ways of the booze arts,
correctly named the scotch in his flask as Lagavulin 16 year, and it was
downhill from there. The Canadians wisely ducked out before we emptied that
flask and the boat of wine and beer. The Scotsman called out sick for our
morning tours. I was apparently still drunk by that point, because I felt
great until about an hour into our second snorkeling trip. Thankfully, cold
Pacific Ocean water and exercise are pretty good hangover cures.

------
ZanyProgrammer
Crap like this makes me glad I was in the Army.

------
SocksCanClose
Wog ratio on HN... probably north of 98%

~~~
dctoedt
It's north of 98% everywhere, I'd think.

~~~
jessaustin
Probably not in Indonesia, Ecuador, or Somalia?

------
RUG3Y
I did some research on this recently, as part of a broader story on hazing
rituals in the military. It's fascinating stuff. As a Marine, I've experienced
and/or witnessed a fair amount of hazing. It's amazing how defensive people
are about these traditions.

------
sohkamyung
Living in Singapore, which is just north of the Equator, I have no idea if the
local Navy does this since crossing the equator must be a common occurrence.

I would suspect the Indonesian navy doesn't as the country straddles the
equator.

------
notliketherest
Tangent: Sturgil Simpson has a great song about some of this called Sea
Stories.

