Turning Pollywogs, into Shellbacks.

When a U.S. Navy ship crosses the Equator, those sailors who have already crossed the Equator, initiate those sailors who have yet to cross.  An old and nearly cruel ritual, it acts to bond the sailors...and also provides lots of sea stories.

Even in times of hot War, as when the USS Yorktown was pursing the Imperial Japanese Navy, the Shellback initiation ceremony must take place.

On a sunny day in May, 1968, on the way to Singapore, the USS Yorktown crossed the equator.  For sailors the world over, this meant that the sailor left the ranks of the landlubber and became a real sailor, a shellback.  The cost of the transformation doesn't come cheap.  The pollywog must be beaten, humiliated and tortured by those that have gone before.  Only after a day of degradation at the hands of the old Shellbacks does the pollywog become a Shellback too.  Its all in good fun and the reward is a huge certificate, signed by the ship's skipper and by Davey Jones himself attesting to the fact that the sailor is now a Shellback.

First a sailor who has yet to cross the equator is served a summons to report to the Flight Deck on the day the ship will cross the equator.  The "charges" don't fit any pattern.  I was charged with "extending your cruise in WestPac (western Pacific)."

The oldest sailor who has crossed the equator becomes Neptunis Rex and presides over the "ceremonies.'

Every sailor, regardless of rank, is expected to do his part to turn the pollywogs into Shellbacks, including Rear Admirals.

(left) Rear Admiral Ralph Weymouth holding whip.

(right) United States Marine Corps Corporal Joey Capozzo "Killer Joe",

 "A pollywog's worst nightmare."

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