international date line

[jaberwocky]

was in merchant navy for years and i know for a fact that when crossing the equator for 1st time often someone on board dressess as NEPTUNE and the people that haven't crossed before get 'gunged' and thrown in pool.however,my wife argues(she often does!!!)that this only happens when crossing the dateline which i have also crossed many times.i've never been part of or have heard of this.certainly not in the british ships i sailed on.is she right?christ i hope not else i'll never hear the end of it.thanks.

[Whickerman]

I can't vouch for the veracity of this website, but it seems it may be both
http://longwood.cs.ucf.edu/~MidLink/baldrige.f ren.html

Wikipedia makes specific reference to the Equator (just print off the top part of this and give it to her)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Line-crossing_cer emony

but then goes on to mention similar for date-line, arctic and antarctic circles etc.

[dzug]

Having done both, so generalising from a sample of one:

crossing the equator there was a ceremony where a few (volunteer) passengers were given the treatment

crossing the dateline nothing happened

so you are right

[jaberwocky]

cheers.cant wait till she gets home from work.should've put a bet on!thank you both.

[auntiebertie]

On one cruise ship they produced a spoof newsletter for crossing the dateline for the day that never was - where of course lots of exciting things were meant to happen. When I crossed the Equator on Celebrity Xpedition in Galapagos King Neptune visited, he chose six peole to be his slaves and then there was this huge ghastly looking fish (real) that we all had to kiss in hommage!