Crossing the Line

Captain Edward Hall, RN, described the old sailors’ ceremony of shaving at the tub when a ship crossed the Equator, the Tropics or Europa Point at Gibraltar. Novices could buy themselves off with a forfeit to the captain of the forecastle. On a man of war a hail came from the sea and Neptune and Amphitrite climbed over the bows in swab wigs, with tritons painted with red ochre scales. Each newcomer was blindfolded, lathered with tar and grease, scraped with a jagged hoop and tipped backwards into a tub of water. Captains allowed it because the old hands held it as their privilege, and it is still kept in navies today.