[....] For sailors the world over, this meant that the sailor left the ranks of the landlubber [polywog] 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.'