These videos are dubbed from a 20 year old VHS tape. To make it even better, my copy of the VHS was second generation. It is what it is.
Crossing the Equator is far from the only nautical ceremony performed by sailors. Here is a list. Crossing the equater is far from my only nautical history as well. I am a bluenose, a shellback, and a plankowner. My last ship is where I earned my plank and therefore I was "bonged" ashore for my last walk accross a Navy brow. (Ding Ding......Ding Ding........."PLANKOWNER, DEPARTING.")
This may seem like hazing. It really is not. The Navy has cut down the number of situations that call for this type of ceremony, but they have still maintained some level of tradition. President Kennedy may have made us the only Navy in the world without a ration of Grog, but we still have our ceremony. If you watch closely you will see that many of the people not participating are actually maintaining the ships real watches at the time. There are also many non-participants whose function is to observe the goings on and ensure the safety and well being of all hands. This particular evolution took place with only one minor casualty. It seems that some Peanut Butter was used in the goo that coated the royal babys belly, and one crewman was alergic to peanut butter. Treated with Benadryl and released (as a shellback).
Lower Resolution (better streaming in lower bandwidth)
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The day before, We stand the Wog Watches.
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The night before, We hold a beauty contest.
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[Download]
The Main Event, We Become Shellbacks.
[Stream]
[Download]
The entire 1 hour 10 minute video.
[Stream]
[Download]
Just the brief clips that Jon is in.
Higher Resolution (better quality and larger screen, high bandwidth or download)(Right click to download)
[Stream]
[Download]
The day before, We stand the Wog Watches.
[Stream]
[Download]
The night before, We hold a beauty contest.
[Stream]
[Download]
The Main Event, We Become Shellbacks.
[Stream]
[Download]
The entire 1 hour 10 minute video.
[Stream]
[Download]
Just the brief clips that Jon is in.
A picture of the Shellback Certificate.
The TEXT of the Shellback Certificate.
For my MAC friends who are having difficulties with the WMV file format, here it is in MPG
[Stream]
[Download]
The day before, We stand the Wog Watches.
[Stream]
[Download]
The night before, We hold a beauty contest.
[Stream]
[Download]
The Main Event, We Become Shellbacks.
[Stream]
[Download]
The entire 1 hour 10 minute video.
[Stream]
[Download]
Just the brief clips that Jon is in.
A picture of the Shellback Certificate.
The TEXT of the Shellback Certificate.
If clicking doesn't work:
This is set up to use Microsoft Internet Explorer
and Microsoft Media Player running on Microsoft Window XP. Below are directions
for setting this up on an XP machine. Anything else, please download the file
and play locally.
To set Media Player as your default:
1) click start
2) on the right side, just under "control Panel" is "Set Program
Access and Defaults," click on that
3) Click on the little circle to the left of "custom."
4) In the "Choose a Default Media Player" section, click on the little
circle to the left of "Window Media Player."
5 ) At the very bottom, click on the "OK" button.
You should now be able to see this video by simply clicking on the link.