Shellbacks in fancy dress for Line Crossing on the USS Augusta, 1934. Their hats describe their offices in King Neptune’s Court. At left is the Royal Chief of Police, and at right is the Royal Electrician, attending a torture device used during the initiation ritual. My grandfather’s inscription on this photo reads, “See that [illegible] and all those lights and bells? As you bent over to kiss the Royal Queen’s foot they jabbed you with a pitchfork charged with electricity. When you jumped up another man hit you with a soft club and knocked you down - then the pitchfork again. Yes it hurt!” Click for high-res photo

Shellbacks in fancy dress for Line Crossing on the USS Augusta, 1934. Their hats describe their offices in King Neptune’s Court. At left is the Royal Chief of Police, and at right is the Royal Electrician, attending a torture device used during the initiation ritual. My grandfather’s inscription on this photo reads, “See that [illegible] and all those lights and bells? As you bent over to kiss the Royal Queen’s foot they jabbed you with a pitchfork charged with electricity. When you jumped up another man hit you with a soft club and knocked you down - then the pitchfork again. Yes it hurt!”

In his own words…

After training I was selected to go to Electrical school [in Norfolk, Virginia] which lasted nine months. I tied for first place on graduating, and was transferred to the USS Whitney, a destroyer repair ship then in Newport, Rhode Island. Stayed on there long enough to make 3rd Class Petty Officer, which paid $60 a month. For my exam the division officer asked me if I knew how to make coffee and when I replied in the affirmative “Yes Sir,” I was promoted. But I was told that to make 2nd class I would have to learn to make moonshine corn whiskey.

Sailors smeared with engine grease, during the Line Crossing ceremony on the USS Augusta, 1934. Click for high-res photo

Sailors smeared with engine grease, during the Line Crossing ceremony on the USS Augusta, 1934.

Line Crossing on the USS Augusta in 1934. Note the sailors dressed as surgeons, ready to shave the body hair off the unfortunate Poliwogs.  Click for high-res photo

Line Crossing on the USS Augusta in 1934. Note the sailors dressed as surgeons, ready to shave the body hair off the unfortunate Poliwogs. 

In his own words…

Spent a rough three months in training, learning how to tie knots, drill, shoot a gun, [sleep in a hammock,]  signal, and most important of all, how to say “Yes Sir” and “No Sir.” And to take a bath and handwash our clothes every day. [I] remember once when on inspection  someone was found with dirty clothes and had to dump all of his clothes on the ground and all 53 of us were made to walk over them before he washed them all. Very rough on punishment then. If one did something wrong all were punished. 

Line Crossing on the USS Augusta. Note the sailor at center, prodded to kneel before the court by a devil’s trident.   Click for high-res photo

Line Crossing on the USS Augusta. Note the sailor at center, prodded to kneel before the court by a devil’s trident.  

King Neptune’s Court assembled on board the USS Augusta. 1934. Click for high-res photo

King Neptune’s Court assembled on board the USS Augusta. 1934.

Above is a scene from Harry Caldwell’s Line Crossing on the USS Marblehead in 1925. The photo shows a makeshift swimming pool, constructed of braced timbers and lined with sailcloth. At center, a Poliwog has been strapped to a dunking board for equatorial baptism, somewhat akin to waterboarding.   Click for high-res photo

Above is a scene from Harry Caldwell’s Line Crossing on the USS Marblehead in 1925. The photo shows a makeshift swimming pool, constructed of braced timbers and lined with sailcloth. At center, a Poliwog has been strapped to a dunking board for equatorial baptism, somewhat akin to waterboarding.  

Line Crossing ceremony on the USS Augusta, 1934. Note the sailors in grass skirts in the foreground. Also of interest is the sailor dressed as a devil, at center right. Click for high-res photo

Line Crossing ceremony on the USS Augusta, 1934.

Note the sailors in grass skirts in the foreground. Also of interest is the sailor dressed as a devil, at center right.

In his own words…

I arrived in Portsmouth, Virginia, after a long train ride; then a ferry ride and a long streetcar ride to the Naval base in Hampton Roads, Virginia, tired and hungry. The following morning I looked out to see the entire Atlantic Fleet anchored out in the bay; quite a sight to a landlubber. Not the fleet of today: there were no carriers for planes. All were WWI ships: some coal burners, even a ship with a mast for dirigibles to tie up to. Most all ships anchored out then; there were not many docks to tie up to. There were still a few sailing ships operating but none in the Navy that I knew of.