The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, May 8, 1898, Page 17

SAN FRANCISCO, SU AY, MAY B 1898. GLORIOUS VISIT OF NEPTUNE ON BOARD THE BATTLE-SHIP OREGON. When the Oregon Crossed “the Line” Recently on Her Way to dJoin the Atlantic Sqfiadron Before Cuba She Was Met by Neptune and His Beautiful Wife Amphitrite. It Was Such a @reat Occasion That the Battle-Ship for a Time Was Turned Over to Neptune and His Retinue. What Followed Is Told Below by Lieutenant Edward W. Eberle, Officer of the Vessel. NEPTUNE TOOK HIS POSITION ON THE BRIDGE WITH HIS STAFF, AND ON THE DECK BELOW WAS RIGGED A BIG SAIL FULL OF THE SALTIEST KIND OF SALT WATER; THEN THE BEARS AND WOLVES PLUNGED INTO THE WATER AND WERE READY FOR THE FIRST VICTIM. m#anfnm]mm these presents shallcance @rcctiug fiflnmye thal Cvene Soonte. pr Tras this dag beenenvolled by of hieJW aslGracious, jesly 5:;]0»\:3 asa lagal sukjeef L eplunus “nvonarchol all the seasand,in vidue theeeof isenlitled foall . Aue eommonlandlnbbers of the earth, : By wqa!:o mmand thevefove, il is dececed that au’pgc[ sailpr-men, me rmaids, sharks, mrtu[es.sea ¢ sergenfs and o the holder of this cestilicato. flom' alroe compula . 8. Battleship Oregon, ‘At Sea, Lat. 00, 00 Long. W., Thursday, March 31, 1898. My Dear Little Sailorman—When a ship crosses the “line” (equator), His Majesty, King Neptune, comes on board to inspect the officers and men, ard if he finds any strangers among them, he proceeds to initiate them with great pomp and ceremony and make them pay tribute to his supreme power. The regions along the “line” are ruled by King Neptune, the Ruler of theSeas, and his power can never be questioned by any one, and woe to ‘“e landsman that hesitates to pay tribute to His arch the ¢ php 178 mcardifi?.la earihly i SBI rvurt. wator, This 1894 o, Mafjesty. Every one who crosses the “line” for the first time is initfated by Neptune, and is ever afterward a son of the sea and a faithful subject of the King and is never forgotten by Neptune. The evening before we crossed the “line,” as we were quietly steaming along through summer seas, with the band playing and the men singing, there came a thundering voice from the sea, which shouted, “‘Ship ahoy!” and the officer of the deck answered, ‘‘Aye, S i )Then the voice from the sea shouted “What ship is that?” and it was sespect Fromthe the r faithlal subjerts of his Rogal Mibs, shall shstain feom wallrealingseslandering answered, “The United States Battle- ship Oregon.” “Whence come ye?"” sald the strange voice. “From San Francisco,” was re- plied. ‘“Whither are ye bound?” again was asked. “Across the ‘line’ Seas,” was answered. Then out of the sea arose a man dressed in seaweeds, and on board he came, and stated that he was the of- ficial representative of ‘““His Majesty King Neptune, and desired to see the captain, saying that the ship would en- ter the King’s domains to the Southern that Neptune would make his custom- ary visit on board. Then the represen- tative disappeared into the sea, and we began to make grand preparatiens to receive King Neptune. This morni.g I was officer of the deck and about 9 o’clock I shouted to the officer on the forecastle (through the trumpet): “Keep a bright lookout ahead for the line, sir!” and the answer came, “Aye, All was bustle and excitement about the decks now, making preparations for his Majesty and the many land- lubbers who had never crossed the “line” were very nervous, for they had been told blood-curdling tales of how Neptune initiated all strangers into his domains. All hands were on deck keeping a lookout for the ruler of the seas, when the officer of the forecastle shouted out to me: “The line in sight right ahead, sir!” and I answered: “Very well, sir, keep a sharp lookout for his Majesty King Neptune!” and in another moment came ‘he word: “The King is in sight al ad, sir!” and I answered: “Ask his Majesty to come on board, sir!” And then out of the sea and over the ship’s b -ws came Neptune with his numerous staff. T invited his Majesty to walk aft on the quarterdeck, where he would be of- finially received by the captain, officers and crew. Th-n I called ‘“All hands to muster,” the most formal ceremony on a man- of-war, where all the officers and men assemble on the quarterdeck and I re- ported to the captain the arrival on board of King Neptune. The captain ~ceived the King on the quarterdeck in the presence of the of- ficers and crew and turned over the ship to him. Neptune introduced his wife, Amphi- trite, and the members of his staff, and then he made a short speech, in which he stated that he had never be- fore been on board such a great battle- ship and that when he first sighted her he did not know whether it was some new American up-to-date sea serpent or'a fort adrift upon the seas, as he had always been accustome:. to ships with masts and sails—an ha had not ordered a floating lighthouse, which he took our military mast to be. Then le looked around at tl « crew and remarked with a cynical grin that he saw many strange faces on board, which caused the poor land-lubbers to tremble with fear. He serenely re- marked that he did not suppose that more than a dozen land-lubbers out of the three hundred on board would be killed as a sacrifice (wnereat their knees knocked together with fright) and that his initiation would so aarden and toughen them that they would consider Spanish bullets a mere picnic party and they would be able to stand anything hereafter. Neptune had with him his wife, Am- phitrite, his secretary, his judge, his barber, merniaids, a lot of big, burly sea policemen and a number of bears and wolves, all dressed in costumes of seaweed, shells, barnacles and star fishes. 0ld Neptune had long white hair and a beard and he looked very much like Santa Claus, but he was dressed in seaweed and salt instead of furs, as the weather here is so warm; and in- stead of a sl igh and reindeer he travels in a large shell drawn by beautiful sea horses and he goes like the wind. For binocular glasses Neptune had two large empty beer bottles and he said he could see a long distance with them. Amphitrite also has whit: hair, about the color of new -ore and 2'l . .rough her hair are brilliant crystals of salt. After Neptune concluded his speech he took his position on the fore and art bridge with his staff and on the deck below was rigged a big sail filled with good salt water of the most salty kind. The bears and the wolves plunged into this water and were ready for the first victim. Neptune's secretar— had a lis’ of the officers an.. men and he began with the captain, who appeared before Neptune. The judge then look~d up the records and found that the captain had crossed the line before and had duly paid trib- ute, whereupon Neptune congratulated him «nd the next officer was called. None of the midshipmen had crossed the line and they all acknowledged the authority of Neptune and offered trib- ute and were given certificates with Neptune's seal, like the one I send you. After they had gone through the list of officers they called the first sailor man on the list of uninitiated and the big policemen brou: ht the trembling victim before the King. giving him a good taste of their clubs on the way. There the judge made a speech, in which he stated that those who sur- vive- this ordeal would be ever after hardy followers of Neptune. He cau- tioned the men to sweep the Spaniards from the sea, as every time Neptune had visited a Spanish ship he had been made very sick by the odor of garlic and vile cigarettes. For this insult to royalty he demanded that his subjects hereafter must seek vengeance. He also cautioned his North American sub- jects against the two most noted pro- ducts of South America, fleas and yel- low dogs, and stated that a thick coat- ing of salt wouid act as a counter- irritant for ..ea bites and would make a yellow dog so sea sick that he would not bite a sccond time. After his speech he turned to the first victim and in stern, deep voice told him of the grave responsibility he was about to assume in becoming a follower of Neptune, and then he or- dered his men to proceed with the ceremony. 1 The victim was placed on a stool with his b-ck to the sail filled h water. Neptune’s barber lathered his face and head with a mixture of flour meal and molasses, using a whitewash brush, and then shaved the poor victim with a large wooden razor, after which the man was dumped over backward into the water on the deck below and there the wolves and bears ducked him and beat him with paddles until he was almo t strangled, after which he was thrown out on deck and received his certificate 2 a Son of Neptuae. Over two hundred men were put through this ram-~ ordeal, 22d those who fought or resisted were clubbed by the policemen and given a double dose. 0000000000000000O0 TU. S. S. OREGON. To all to whom these presents shall come. GREETING. Know ye that Edward Eberle Jr. has this day been enrolled by roxy as a loyal subject of his Blosl Gracious Majesty Neptunus Rex, monarch of all the seas and, in virtue thereof, is entitled to all due respect from the common land lubbers of the earth. By royal command, therefore, it is decreed, that all good sailor- men, mermaids, sharks. whales, sea serpents and other faithful sub- jects of his Royal Nibs, shall ab- sStain from maltreating or slander- ing the holder of this certificate. By the King. DOWNALLDITTYBOXES, Secretary. Done at royal court, the Equator, this 31st day of March, 1898, according to earthly compu- tation. o 0000000000 000000 The policem'n went all through the ship searching for the victims and not one land-lubber :scaped. 000000000000000000000000000 000000000000000000000000000000 ' Cheer after chcer went u; as each man was shaved .d duc} d and Nep= tune gave additional attentic_. to those whom he called the “freshe: of the fresh, who are *y freshy It took Neptune until 3 o’clock in the afternoon to initiate all the land-lub< bers, and he said that he had never before struck such a rich harvest, as the crew was such a large one. He recognized me as an old friend of his, for you see I have crossed the “line’” more than twenty-five times, and in the I'acific, the Atlantic and the Indian Oceans, so old Neptune knows me very well and he looks the same a8 he did when he gave me my certificatey more than thirteen years ago. I told him about you and he gave me a certificate for you, but said that yom would have to pay tribute and get an= other certificate when yot crossed the “line”’ for the fir t time. He said he hoped you would become a naval offices like your father. He made a farewell speech, wished@ us a pleasant cruise, said we would al« ways be welcome to his domains and then disappeared into the sea. Amphi- trite sent her best love to mother and said she would like to send her one of her beautiful salt crystals, but that Neptune would be angry if she should give away the jewels he had given her, so mother must do without the salt crystals. You must not worry, for the Span< jards cannot harm father’s ship and we will soon be together again, either om the Eastern Coast or in San kranciscos Your devoted father, EDWARD EBERLE SR. “What in the world are they fighting about, anyway?” asked a young girl in an Atlanta store Saturday morning. “For liberty, my dear child,” replied a companion with an air of superiority. “Our country must not be insulted by the Italians.” “I thought it was the Spaniards® mildly. protested the first speaker. “Well, they are all the same. It makes no difference who it is we are fighting, it is the principle of the thing we are after.” < “Has anybody been shot yet?” asked the first speaker. “I really didn’t read the news clearly this morning,” was the reply. Then they turned their attention to the bargain counter, and the war was totally forgotten.