Ship & Naval

In the 19th century and earlier, the line-crossing ceremony was quite a brutal event, often involving beating "pollywogs" with boards and wet ropes and sometimes throwing the victims over the side of the ship, dragging the pollywog in the surf from the stern. In more than one instance, sailors were reported to have been killed while participating in a crossing the line ceremony.^{[citation needed]}

As late as World War II, the line crossing ceremony was still rather rough and involved activities such as the "Devil"s Tongue" which would be an electrified piece of metal poked into the sides of those deemed pollywogs. Beatings were often still common, usually with wet firehoses, and several World War II Navy deck logs speak of sailors visiting sickbay after crossing the line.^{[citation needed]}

Efforts to curtail the line crossing ceremony did not begin until the 1980s, when several reports of blatant hazing began to circulate regarding the line crossing ceremony and at least one death was attributed to abuse while crossing the line.

California Maritime Academy observed the line-crossing until 1989, after which the ceremony was deemed to be hazing, and was forbidden. The "89 crossing was fairly typical, as it was not realized to be the last one. Pollywogs participated voluntarily, though women midshipmen justifiably observed that they were under social pressure to do the ceremony but were targets of harder abuse.^{[citation needed]} Pollywogs (midshipmen and anyone else who had not crossed) ascended a ladder from the foredeck to the superstructure deck of the ship. There, they crawled down a gauntlet of shellbacks on both sides of a long, heavy canvas runner, about 10 - 12 meters. The shellbacks had prepared 1 meter lengths of canvas/rubber firehose, which they swung hard at the posterior of each pollywog. Pollywogs then ascended a ladder to the boatdeck to slide down a makeshift chute into the baptism of messdeck leavings in sea water in an inflated liferaft back on the superstructure deck. Pollywogs then returned to the foredeck where they were hosed off by firehose and then allowed to kiss, in turn, the belly of the sea-baby, the foot of the sea-hag, and the ring of King Neptune, each personified by shellbacks.

In 1995, a notorious line crossing ceremony took place on an Australian submarine HMAS Onslow. Sailors undergoing the ceremony were physically and verbally abused before being subjected to an act called "sump on the rump", where a dark liquid was daubed over each sailor"s anus and genitalia. One sailor was then sexually assaulted with a long stick before all sailors undergoing the ceremony were forced to jump overboard until permitted to climb back aboard the submarine. A videotape of the ceremony was obtained by the Nine Network and aired on Australian television. The television coverage provoked widespread criticism, especially when the videotape showed some of the submarine"s officers watching the entire proceedings from the conning tower.^[3][4]

Most navies have, since then, instituted regulations which prohibit physical attacks on sailors undergoing the crossing the line ceremony. In modern times, rather than a dreaded rite of initiation, the line crossing ceremony has become a popular tradition in the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Coast Guard.

Line crossing ceremonies are also carried out on many U.S. merchant ships. However, without the oversight of military justice, they can often get out of hand and lead to the abuse and assault which occurred in line crossing ceremonies of the past.

The ceremony of Crossing the Line is an initiation rite in the Royal Navy, U.S. Navy, and other navies which commemorates a sailor"s first crossing of the equator. Originally the tradition was created as a test for seasoned sailors to ensure their new shipmates were capable of handling long rough times at sea. Sailors who have already crossed the equator are nicknamed (Trusty) Shellbacks, often referred to as Sons of Neptune; those who have not are nicknamed (Slimy) Pollywogs.

The two-day event (evening and day) is a ritual of reversal in which the older and experienced enlisted crew essentially takes over the ship from the officers. Physical assaults in keeping with the "spirit" of the initiation are tolerated, and even the inexperienced crew is given the opportunity to "take over". The transition flows from established order to the controlled "chaos" of the Pollywog Revolt, the beginnings of re-order in the initiation rite as the fewer but experienced enlisted crew converts the "Wogs" through physical tests, then back to, and thereby affirming, the pre-established order of officers and enlisted. Like the old physically- and emotionally-intensive boot camp, the "Crossing the Line" ritual deconstructs then reconstructs the initiates" experience from newbie outsider into the experienced military fraternity.

The eve of the equatorial crossing is called Pollywogs" Revolt and, as with many other night-before rituals, is a mild type of reversal of the day to come. "Wogs" - all of the uninitiated - are allowed to capture and "interrogate" any shellbacks they can find (eg, tying them up, cracking eggs or pouring aftershave lotion on their heads).

After crossing the line, Pollywogs receive subpoenas ^[1] to appear before King Neptune and his court (usually including his first assistant Davy Jones and her Highness Amphitrite and often various dignitaries, who are all represented by the highest ranking seamen), who officiate at the ceremony, which is often preceded by a Beauty Contest of men dressing up as women, each department of the ship being required to introduce one contestant in swimsuit drag. Afterwards, some wogs may be "interrogated" by King Nepture and his entourage, and the use of "truth serum" (hot sauce + after shave + ?) and whole uncooked eggs put in the mouth. During the ceremony, the Pollywogs undergo a number of increasingly disgusting ordeals (wearing clothing inside out and backwards; crawling on hands and knees on nonskid-coated decks; being swatted with short lengths of firehose; being locked in stocks and pillories and pelted with mushy fruit; being locked in a water coffin of salt-water and bright green sea dye (fluorescent sodium salt); crawling through chutes or large tubs of rotting garbage; kissing the Royal Baby"s belly coated with axle grease, hair chopping, etc), largely for the entertainment of the Shellbacks.^{[citation needed]}

Once the ceremony is complete, a Pollywog receives a certificate ^[2] declaring his new status. Another rare status is the Golden shellback, a person who has crossed the equator at the 180th meridian (international date line). When a ship must cross these lines, the ship"s captain will usually intentionally plot a course across the Golden X so that the ship"s crew can be initiated into the Golden Shellbacks.

A watered-down version of the ceremony, typically featuring King Neptune, is also sometimes carried out for passengers" entertainment on civilian ocean liners and cruise ships.

Commander, Norfolk Naval Shipyard
Portsmouth, Virginia

Captain Richard D. Berkey was born and raised in Windber, Pennsylvania and entered the Navy through the NROTC program at Pennsylvania State University where he received a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering in 1983 and later qualified as
a Surface Warfare Officer onboard USS FARRAGUT (DDG 37).

He became an Engineering Duty Officer and attended Naval Postgraduate School where he received a Master of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering and a Mechanical Engineer degree in 1989. He graduated with distinction and was the recipient of the Naval Sea Systems Command award for Excellence in Naval Engineering and the Navy League award for highest academic achievement for graduating at the top of his class. He also received the VADM C. R. Bryan award, the Founder’s award and the Student of the Year award from the Engineering Duty Officer School in 1989.

In 1998, the Honolulu-Pacific Federal Executive Board selected him as the Military Officer of the Year for the Hawaii Region. His Engineering Duty tours include service as a Surface Ship Superintendent and Nuclear Ship Superintendent at Norfolk Naval Shipyard; Main Propulsion Assistant in USS SARATOGA (CV 60); Fleet Maintenance Budget Officer on the staff of the Commander-in-Chief, U.S. Atlantic Fleet; Assistant Operations Officer for Surface Ship and Submarine Fleet Maintenance at the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard & Intermediate Maintenance Facility; Chief Engineer in USS GEORGE WASHINGTON (CVN 73); Ship Engineer Officer in the Maintenance Directorate on the staff of the Commander, Naval Air Force, U.S. Atlantic Fleet; Ship/Submarine Branch Head in the Fleet Readiness Division on the staff of the Chief of Naval Operations; Operations Officer at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard; and Assistant Deputy Commander for Industrial Operations at Naval Sea Systems Command. He assumed command of Norfolk Naval Shipyard in June 2006.

His personal decorations include the Legion of Merit, five Meritorious Service Medals, two Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medals and the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal. He is a member of the American Society of Naval Engineers and is a registered Professional Engineer in the State of California.