At 6 pm local time on Monday, April 12 we were approximately 3 nm miles from the equator. Earlier in the day we had received a summons from the Roayl Court of King Neptune informing us of his intent to challene us as we approached the equator and determine our worthiness to be recognized as Shellbacks. It is an ancient tradition of seafarers to transition from being a 'polywog' to a Shellback as the equator is crossed. This, however, is not an automatic status and becoming a Shellback is not without proper evaluation, trial, and punishment.
For boats or ships with Shellbacks aboard, the polywogs can be evaluated by their senior crew members. In our case, having no Shellbacks among our crew, King Neptune himself chose to board Oso Blanco and conduct the trial and ceremonies. As we approached the equator, the crew members presented themselves before the King wearing proper attire and were appropriately humbled. Due to the list of charges and sins against the Sea that had been bestowed upon our degenerate Captain, he was afraid to present himself before King Neptune and he was later found hiding in the bilge. Before the King slipped back into the sea, he granted authority to the newly recognized Shellbacks to bring the Captain to justice as they saw fit. After dragging the sniveling Captain from the bilge, they were able to purge him of his sins and he also crossed the equator as a Shellback. Perhaps it is better for everyone following this blog that we are unable to post photographs while at sea.
When we actually reached 00.00 128 20'W at 1820 local time, we celebrated with champagne and offered gifts to the sea and to King Neptune. We then stopped the boat and swam in 83* water at the equator.
The 6 new Shellbacks are now well below the equator and looking forward to arrival in the Marquesas. We have 740 nm to go and hope to be there sometime on Saturday.
E
