Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1889-01-31
NAUTICAL HIGH JININS.
Old-Time Ceremonies Observed
When Crossing the Equator.
Neptune's Rude Performahces-A ST upid
and Barbarous Custom, Once Uniuer-
sally Prevalent, But Now Hap
PLY Passed Out of Date.

DuflnD some UOlSIcrouS SKY ldF eng
on board ship outward-bour.d TO New
Zealand port, sailor lost his temper
and stabbed a man. who shortly after
died. On the arrival OF the vessel the
assassin was delivered to the "ar.thori.
ties" How he was dealt w'.eh J do
not know, says the writer "A the Lon
don Telegraph, having lc.<t siGnt of the
case. The main int lest of The thing
to me lay in the soasion OF this crime
being a survlv. al OF those high jinks
whlcn were customary Ola board ship
wheh she. crossed the equator. Nest
OF u.s. !. dare say. view the old soaping,
ia'' 4ering, shaving and ducking bust
LESS MS 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
hopelessly out OF date, was to be in a
position to congratulate the mercan-
tile marine upon the extinction of a
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
bows as a distinct gain to literature,
for there was scarcely a work relating
to the sea which did not contain an ac-
count of this example of traditional
forecastle 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 fcet--bu,
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 a beard, the attendants of the
court hideous as fetishes with paint
and forecastle finery, the anguish O
the green hand about to be operated
on, the rigging and sides filled with
grinning salts, crowd of passengers
staring from the poop, the captain
among them CHANGING with one condo
scending eye at the sports and keeping
the other fixed upon the weather-how
weary one grew of it! How tiresomt
Lid beeame. Would tho day ever arrive
when ii nautical writer should artist
and cry: Behold! | will navigate
you from the Thames to the Hooghley
without an instant's pause, upon the
equator, to eXhibit the buffoonery of the
old custom" Steam, however, under
took an artistic obligation sternly de-
clined by the romancist, who refused
to let go of his equatorial maritime
ceremony on any account whatever
and with rushing paddle-wheels, whirl
ing propellers, and shrieking whistles
exercised what had long been reduced
to the condition of a DOGGY of ocean,,
literature. When the East Indiamal
dropped anchor for the last time, thu
equinoctial joke fell overheard out o
the stern windows and was drowned
At least this was my belief until reaC
the account Of that murder done by al
angry man while the sailors were sky
larking over the old bushes of Shawn,
and ducking two or three wretche
who had never been farther south thai
latitude l degree north. But let IL
take heart. Here and there a ship
company may be favored by their skip
per with leave to grin through tina
ancient horse-collar in which genera
tions OF pig-tailed worthless hav
framed their convulsed and purpl
countenances But there is SINAI
chance of the custom ever gainin
fresh footing. The sentiment Of tn
times is opposed to practical joking
and even the most waggish Jack nigh
find it hard to get laugh out of him
self at the sight of a green shipmat
struggling half-drowned in grea
tub OF water with his mouth full of ia
and his face bleeding from the tick
ling of razor fashioned out of an iro
cask-hoop.
Whence came this odd diversion
What particular reason had sailors i
fixing upon the equator as the mos
convenient spot on the earth for maj
handling the raw-headed among tbel
into a condition OF anguish and dlth
The Practice has been traced TO Ii
ancient habit among seamen ofsacri6'
Ing on nearing any point Of land upo