Fellow travellers ...

I am looking for a scan (JPEG, PNG, GIF, BMP) of the certificate we received when crossing the Equator on the Union Castle ships.

I already have the ones my father has from the Royal Navy during the Second World War, and I need one to compare of the Union Castle ships of the post-Second World War period up to the end of the line in the 1970s.

Stupidly I made the crossing FIVE times, and yet was unable to save a single certificate.

I would be so grateful if anyone who can help with either a link to one on the Web (I have looked extensively) or who would be willing to post a scan of one to me.

PS: I have looked in the MAILSHIPS OF THE UNION CASLTE LINE and THE GOLDEN RUN, but there is no example in those books.

Thanks ...

Hi, I was on the SA Vaal crossing the equator, and have a certificate from King Neptune, not sure but it mught be the same - let me know if you would like a copy - you had to be dunked in the "pool go" which was eggs, and some other stuff, (cannot remember) to make the colour blue for the crossing

"macbrodie" ...

Yes, your "certificate from King Neptune" is your Equatorial Crossing Certificate that is awarded to all passengers on BRITISH (or in the case of the Vaal, South African ships) registered ships that cross the Equator anywhere on the globe. For example, my father who was a common seaman on the H.M.S. Exeter in the 1930s and later on the H.M.S. Kenya in the 1940s received a certificate like this for all the equatorial crossings he made. They were always with a similar motif, where from the Royal Navy or on merchant navy vessels.

Boys and men were treated by "bears" and thrown into the swimming pool and handled roughly. Girls were daubed carefully in a tub outside the pool. There was always a fancy dress party afterwards, and the Court of King Neptune had crew and adults in outrageous costumes reflective of the things marine.

I would greatly appreciate a copy of your certificate. I am assuming you can provide a JPEG or PNG? Can you provide something with a good resolution, but that is not much more than 500K in size?

Dave Cooper
Republiek van Limburgië
machine at claudius dot com