Evening star., 1925-08-09

Neptune has captured another cit
iZen of Washington for his royal
equatorial realm. and with the aid of
a strenuous trial, stern sentence.
ending with 2 vigorous duckinE, Lie.
Comdr. Reynolds Hayden of this city
is now q full-hedged "sheIlhack." No
person can become a "shellhaCk" nm.
til he crosses the Equator. and once
on this royal throne line no one passes
unsurveyed
Comdr Ha yden. whose parents live
in this city, is chief medical officer
aboard the [. s. Flagship Seattle.
which recently crossed the line and
he with some 500 others passed
through the imitation ceremonies. a
sea custom that has survived the
years of ocean travel.
The following account. which is
typical of the experiences of thou
sands of sailors with the fleet. is
taken from a personal letter to the
writer $ parents. not written for pub
lication originally:
Davy Jones Boards.
Davy Jones came aboard on sun
day night, accompanied by Peg Leg
and few royal police. He was re-
ceiVed with due honors, escorted back
to the quarterback. received there by
the captain and taken to Admiral
and the rest were all dressed in pirate
costumes OF We olden days. The quar-
terdeCk was brilliantly lighted by
SearchliGhts. After saying how'd
do 10 the comma nder- in chief DaVV
read several letters from King Nep-
tune-one each to the commander
in-chief the chief Of staff and the
skipper Then he called out the Of
hcers To he initiated. one at time.
read out the charges against them
and commented on them facetiouslv
\ great many We're especially funny
10 those of MS who knew the iudi-
vidual concerned.
Next morning, Neptune and his
court boarded us. He, the Queen and
the Prince were dressed in conven-
uonal Neptune attire. The rest of the
outht had on exaggerated costumes
more or less in accord with the parts
they took. as Chief Justice. the ROYAL
Admiral, the Royal Doctor, the ROYAL
Dentlst, the Royal Embalmer, Royal
Barber. Royal Police, etc.
Reviewed With Royal Honors.
The crew was all mustered aft
Neptune boarded us on the bow and
was properly escorted aft. Those
omcers who We're to be initiated-2O-
acted as side boys. Upon his arrival
OH qudIleGueCk ne was given ful
honors by the entire marine guard
and band. More ruffies nd tiourishes
than | ever heard for one person. The
Queen and the Princess each had
Alice blue knee-length gowns, low neck
and short sleeves. silk stockings
rolled just below the knee: wings
made of fringed rope. and large gilt
crowns.
There were lots of Royal Police
armed with rather large cloth clubs
least, We're the bears who were to
perform in the tank. They were in
bathing trunks. Some had hula
skirts and some had rope yarn skirts.
Most had rope yarn wigs and their
bodies were smeared with Il mixture
Of coal dust and oil. They all finally
went forward and the rest of us soon
followed
"A platform Is feet square was
erected in the middle Of the forecas stle
on one corner of this a smaller plat
form was built about four feet above
the first. and below that was tank
full nf salt water. between four and
five feet deep. Neptune and his court
took their places on the pIa tform. The
commander-in-chief and all shellhack
officers-and all there was room for
sat on top of the forward turret The
crew TANNED the forecastle and the
show began.
Escapes Doctor and Dentist.
Being the senior one to he init
ated, | was put through first. ! was