Down to the Seas: An Afternoon in Court

February 28, 2012

I write to you on this 28^th day of February as an official Shellback, as ordained by King Neptune and his court. We crossed the equator February 27 around 3 am, during our Midwatch. Most people came up on deck and we rung in the crossing, much like we ring in the New Year. It was exciting to watch the GPS change to 00000. We actually crossed back into the southern hemisphere only a short time later, as Kiribati asked us to map a certain section of the sea floor for economic purposes, which we did by following a transect of the equator. We crossed back into the northern hemisphere on dawn watch this morning (my watch again), and did an equator salutation.

Surely it was not that simple, you say. And indeed, you’d be right. We did not simply become Shellbacks at the strike of the GPS. No, a lengthy ceremony ensued around class time when the voice of the captain summoned us to the quarterdeck where we were soon under the control of King Neptune’s court. We were all charged with transgressions against Neptune and given a chance to redeem ourselves through a special set of tasks. All I can say is it was quite wet and a bit mushy at times. We were welcomed back to the deck by Neptune himself and after cleaning the deck, there was cake waiting for snack. After demolishing that, it was time for haircuts. It’s a tradition for every single person to donate a bit of hair to King Neptune, and I think most people did at least a clipping. A lot of Mohawks appeared on deck, some trims, and for a lot of the girls, a strip shaved off the side of the head. I couldn’t watch all the proceedings, as I had to go to the galley and wash dishes, but it was an afternoon of haircutting. Sam was assistant steward for the day, and neither of us has done anything with our hair, but after much waffling we decided to do something after dinner. So, when the last pork chop was eaten, we trooped up to the science deck and Katy got her scissors, Hallie got the razor, and there went my 12 inch braid, there went Sam’s hair. I guess you might say….It’s a Denison Thing. I’m not quite sure how I feel about it yet, but it’ll make for an excellent story when I’m old and in a rocking chair (with 2 broken legs, Taylor..,) I put my hair in the engine room to dry out so I can donate it when I get home. Security at the airport might be a bit weirded out when they see hair in my bag…

I’m back, to write a bit more. Well, mostly because I wanted to say, “tis the night before Kiritimati” (pronounced Christmas). We anticipate arriving in Kiribati tomorrow. Kiritibati is on the other side of the International Date Line. Which means we will arrive there on Thursday, March 1, and never experience leap day in 2012. I’m excited about this arbitrary line, and how truly arbitrary it is. Check out a map; Kiribati is located where the line makes a long box to the right before continuing on its normal path.

Two exciting things happened during class this afternoon. One, we interrupted daily reports to deploy our Argo, a yellow CTD, or device that measures Conductivity, Temperature, and Depth. It’s sponsored by the United Nations Environmental Program and there have been over 5000 deployed in a world wide effort to map the oceans. Kinda cool that we got to do one. Everyone signed it and we all got a tattoo to commemorate it. Then, towards the end of class (which is on deck), Captain Sean interrupted us saying there was a squall moving towards us, about 2 nm off. We all sprang into action; he assigned each watch a sail to strike, and in the best display of efficiency I’ve seen from us yet, we had those sails struck and furled in minutes. C watch had the finicky fisherman, which has 2 halyards and is very difficult to furl. It generally gives us a bit of trouble, but today we accomplished a good looking furl in no time flat. It was great.