The Republican., 1888-12-22

w lALSAA oOlIiC b-nAllO LthLoCu w eh Phk-S tHAi
deity happened to be placed. The
equator was not in early times the
chosen spot. In remote ages there
were certain places which no man who
was passing them for the first time was
suffered to sail out Of view OF without
paying the penalty of what was called
baptism: that is to say, he was coolly
| swayed away up to the yard-arm and
| then dropped into the sea with a run.
| These spots took a character OF cQnse-
Grafton iu the eyes of the crews. 1t
was no joke in those days; the practice
had not yet assumed the form of tarr-
ing and shaving; it was Il custom based
on religious sentiment. Even if a ship
was making the passage of one of these
places for the first time she was dealt
with as though she had an immortal
soul to be saved. II the master hesi-
tated to redeem his craft by paying
money to his men, the men fell to mu-
tilating the vessel, either by cutting off
her "boak," as the projection on the
cathead was then termed, or by dis
figuring or destroying some other part
of her. The old narratives Of voyages
abound in descriptions of this sort of
| procedure. The missionary monks
who came to the wide circle of the
horizon astounded from the narrow
sphere of the cloister5 are particularly
! graphic and full in their accounts Of
these ancient sports. They describe a
marine court formed of a president and
two or three judges, all OF them fore
castle hands They could summon any
man on board the vessel TO appear be-
| fore them, and he was forced to obey,
though he were the captain himself.
After catechising they fined him, and
if he refused to pay they ran him up in
d bowline TO the yard-arm and ducl1ed
him till he was nearly drowned. On
some of the ships of Spain or Portugal
the money thus eXacted formed sum
considerable enough to support q con-
/ vent.
Aubin who compiled his nautical die
tionary in 1902. tells us that in French
ships during the middle of the seven
teenth century it was customary to
range tubs full of sca-water along both
sides OF the upper deck, where stood
the sailors, every man with a bucket
| in his hand. The chief steward came
/ to the foot Of the mainmast with Il
great beard hanging from his chin and
his body draped with ropes ENDS,
hanging down. Five or six seanen
similarly equipped attended upon him,
He held book in his hand, any volume
to represent, as Aubin puts it, 1.-The
gospels Of the evangelists." The fell
low who was to be baptized llnelt be-
fore this steward, who, thrusting tho
book into his hand, made him soIemnly
swear "that whenever an occasion pre-
sentad itself of baptizing others he
would serve them in the same way as
he was about to be served" On the
oath being administered the man got
| .,,,> ee,>d- Nvnllsad betvveen the rows of
| buckets, every sailor saluting him
with flood us he advanced, until he
had gained the forecastle head. This
was what the French sailors called bap-
| tizing a shipmate.
tl,i. ti,s,I ,l. trr'' 1'J %ppo''' '.Oo'O ~,
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- a.;..,.. - w.. 49, Fl1.Isll -, 49,
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w. ,' la5 l' ~ 80 I,' "e''r9 - ',lH r- 1900.
t'-' i''r,- ~ " o'',e'''l ''"o'
l,l.,-,-011 .-..''t.,, '
- '0,'Co>t ''i'i,S0ti ii"l'
! ii'' Il 1'i'''O 0'oA III MS NfCuu' One EoI-
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9.io y {" w. p'0''''" o' inc snip nc
"lloIe ol Vhe crew P"Sseu before hllh'
every MIN N,-0eiin9 anu swearing py
orcau ana SAT- Cil"0 ne n'Iu previously
p'''Sou Une IIhe' iiloSo VINO were
C[oSsInS Vuc equ''Ior lor Che lir7t tllNo
| N9PL"Ho hlI over Cne he"u WIN d
"oouen sword ana tne crew continued
10 duck them uhul Ihey had palo a
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