The Republican., 1888-12-22
NAUTICAL HIGH JINKS.
Old-Time Ceremonies Observed
When Crossing the Equator.
Ncptuns's Rude Performances--A Stupid
and BarbarOus Custom, Once Univcr-
sally Prevalent, But Now Hap
PLY Passed Out of Date,

During some boisterOus skylarking
on board ship outward-bound to New
Zealand port, sailor lost his temper
and stabbed man. who shortly after
died. On the arrival Of the vessel the
assassin was delivered to the ''authori-
tics" How he was dealt with | do
not know, says the writer in the Lon
don telegraph, having lost sight Of the
case. The main interest Of the thing
being a survival of those high jinbs
which were customary on board Il ship
when she crossed the equator. Most
Of us, dare say, view the old soaping,
lathering, shaving and ducking busi-
ness as pretty near as dead as the sort
of craft whose decks resounded with
the merriment OF this kind of revelry.
Indeed, to understand that the cere-
monies attendant upon cutting the
line, as it was called, have drifted
position to congratulate the mercan-
tile marine upon the extinction of Il
stupid and barbarous custom. A
romantic feature, it is true, is Topped
away; very useful bit OF color is lost
to the nautical fictionist; but there is
assuredly no other cause for regret.
In fact, the reader of marine novels
might consider the decay of the joke
of Neptune crawling aboard over the
S 69Es as @ assdaGt G2la Work t9 tHgaptHtlfH
to the sea which did not contain an ac-
count of this example of traditional
forccastle horse-play. One grew weary
of it at last 1t was impossible for the
ship to approach the equator without
the description stealing in.
Old jokes are very well in their way
the mind wears them comfortably, as
old slippers sit easily on the feet--but
this portraiture OF crossing the equator
had been made stale years ago. The
great tubful of water, Neptune in sea-
weed and trident, his wife in bonnet
and o beard, the attendants Of the
court htdeou8 as fetishes with paint
and forocastle fnery, the anguish of
the green hand about TO be operated
on, the rigging and sides filled with
glinning salts, crowd Of passengers
staring from the poop, the captain
among them glaucing with one conde-
sccudiug eye at the sports and keeping
the other fixed upon the weather-how
weary one grew of it! How tiresome
il became! Would the day ever arrive
when a nautical writer should arise
and cry: "B3hold! / will navigate
you from the Thames to the Hooghley,
without an instants pause, upon the
equator, to oeXhjbitthe buffoonery of the
old custOms' Steam, however, under
took an artistic obligation sternly de-
clincd by the rOmauci5t, who refused
to let go Of his equatorial maritime
ceremony on any account whatever
and with rushing paddle-wheels, whirl-
ing propollers, and shrieking whistles
exercised what had long been reduced
to the condition of bogey of oceanic
literature. When the East Indiaman
dropped anchor for the last time, the
the stern windows and was drowned.
At least this was my belief until | read
the account Of that murder done by an
angry man while the sailors were sky
larking over the old busine5 of shaving
and ducking two or three wretches
who had never been farther south than
latitude | degree north. But let us
take heart. Here and there q ships
company may be favored by their skip
per with leave to grin through that
ancient hOrse-collar in which genera
tions of pig-tailed worthless have
framed their convulsed and purple
countenances. But there is small
chance of the custom ever gaining
fresh footing. The sentiment of the
times is opposed to practical joking,
and even the most waggish Jack might
find it hard to get la}igh out of him
self at the sight of II green shipmate
struggling half-drowned in a great
tub OF water with his mouth full of tar
and his face bleeding from the tick
ling of razor fashioned out of an iron
eask-hoop
Whence came this odd diversion?
What particular reason had sailors in
fixing upon the equator as the most
convenient spot on the earth for man
handling the raw-headed among them