neptune day 2012

Neptune Day is a line-crossing ceremony commemorating a sailor’s first crossing of the Equator. Sailors who have already crossed the Equator are known as Trusty Shellbacks or Sons of Neptune, while those still uninitiated are considered Slimy Pollywogs. Thus, when I boarded the MV Explorer back in Boston, I was still a lowly Wog. Not for long because Semester at Sea, along with many navies in the world, perform a ceremony so Wogs can officially become Shellbacks.

What on Earth might such an Equator-crossing ritual entail? You’re about to discover, it ain’t for the feint of heart. To begin, I want to mention that there are a few different classes of Shellbacks. There is your basic Shellback, someone who has crossed the Equator at sea, your Golden Shellback, someone who has crossed the Equator at sea at the 180th Meridian (aka, the International Date Line), and then the rarest of all Shellbacks, the Emerald (or in the Commonwealth, the Royal Diamond) Shellback, someone who has crossed the Equator at sea at the Prime Meridian. Not many vessels travel to this unique point on the globe, but because our ship needed to cross the Equator close to it, the captain plotted our course across the Golden X so we could all be initiated as Emerald Shellbacks! Some of us were clearly better prepared for the event than others!

Now, on to the ritual. The night before, there was much plotting amongst those who were already Shellbacks. I happened to be sharing a room with one of them, but no one revealed a thing. Now, I know we had it easy compared to some of the other initiation rituals at sea, but ours did include some truly disgusting moments. I’ll take you through it.

Step One: We were awoken early the next morning by crew members and other Shellbacks dressed in togas and various costumes, banging on all sorts of instruments, and were told to be up on deck, a summons to appear before King Neptune, Queen Minerva, and their Royal Court.

Step Two: Pollywogs assembled on Deck 7 and watched as crew members stirred multi-gallon garbage pails of a foaming green liquid. My friend, Keith Trotter, seems all smiles, but just wait till it’s his turn!

Step Three: King Neptune and Queen Minerva (played respectively by Executive Dean John Tymitz and Dean of Student Affairs Lisa Slavid) emerged from the steps to Deck 7 aft, followed by their entourage, which included a Chamberlain--hmm, looking innocent next to the Queen--a Torturer, a Royal Barber, and a Fish Monger, among others.

Step Four: We had to bow to the Royal Entourage and recite a request that King Neptune take pity on us and grant us the status of Emerald Shellbacks, upon which the good King bellowed that we were unworthy and had to prove ourselves by completing some very specific challenges. Staff Captain Konstantinos (Kostas) Siamantas then informed King Neptune that Master Captain Roman Krstanovic had locked himself in the wine cellar. Things were going downhill fast.

Step Five: In small groups, we lined up pool side as the crew proceeded to dump pitchers of slimy green liquid over our heads. I heard that in years past they’d used lumps of oatmeal in addition to the liquid, but this year, it was old fish juice mixed with who knows what to turn it green and frothy!

Step Six: Jump in the pool and climb the ladder, only to emerge face-to-face with a dead fish that you had to kiss. As if one dead fish wasn’t enough, come to find out you had to kiss two of them! These weren’t fake fish either...and they had teeth!

Step Seven: Pay respects to Queen Minerva and kiss King Neptune’s ring.

Step Eight: Two assistants anoint you with sea salt and send you packing, right to the barber’s chair. This is my friend, Jake Robinson, getting the saline treatment. Clearly, he’d already seen the Royal Barber.

Step Nine: Like all steps, this next one was optional, but you only become an Emerald Shellback once, so for the sake of tradition, I sat myself down and thought, I need a haircut anyway. You should know, there was not a professional barber amongst them. These were faculty and staff members using their own razors, many with blades that were less than sharp.

What you can’t see in the photo above is that half way through the cut, the evil barber’s razor started smoking and shut off, forever. Fortunately, we found another and got the job done...and then for some crazy reason, I kissed the fish again. Thanks, Leo! At least I earned the chance to pose with the King and Queen.

My friend Isaiah Thomas assured me it was a good look.

Step Ten: You could say this is either the first or the last step, but of course, we DID actually have to cross the Equator at the Prime Meridian. I heard we may have been 3 meters off, but I don’t know if that means we missed the center or what. Since I haven’t confirmed otherwise, I’m going to say we did it. Not like we were turning around anyway!

This is what 0º latitude, 0º longitude looks like.

So now I’m an Emerald Shellback. The air feels a bit chillier and the seas a bit choppy, but knock wood, I’ve yet to hurl because of it. Should I ever sail over the Equator again, I’ll be able to initiate a whole new batch of Pollywogs. As a morale-booster, I think it did the job. The students enjoyed the entire day, remaining poolside and joining each other in song. The crew, as usual, were amazing. Their enthusiasm for the event radiated, and I continue to feel grateful for the extra effort they put in each and every day. If I had a stronger stomach, I might consider running away to sea.