293. This ceremony is known by the name of sea baptism, Crossing the Line or baptism of the Tropic. It was organized each time a ship crossed the Tropic of Cancer, but also the Equator, or other symbolic places like the Straight of Gibraltar in former times. This ceremony was mainly celebrated within the French navy even though different national variations existed in the eighteenth century. These line-crossing ceremonies still exist in the American and Australian navies, in the Royal Navy, and in the French National Navy, albeit under a slightly different form. Line crossing is still celebrated, but the former organized ceremonies have given way to informal practices, inspired by so-called tradition, which naval and legal authorities today consider to be hazing. It is without a doubt a very old tradition, testimonies of which appear in numerous naval memoires, such as Un Flibustier français dans la mer des Antilles 1618-1620, edited by Jean-Pierre Moreau, Paris, Seghers, 1990. The precise origin of this cruel ritual is unknown even though it is thought to have originated with Portuguese and Spanish sailors during the Age of Discovery. When the zone of the tropics was considered uninhabitable, crossing the line was consequently like entering a new world, which required a new baptism. Even though this naval celebration was based on the Christian sacrament of baptism, the scenes it staged were anything but linked to the Church, as can be seen in the description Flohr gives. However, the scene differs somewhat from other sailors’ descriptions. In several definitions taken from nineteenth century encyclopedias or dictionaries (Dictionnaire historique des institutions, moeurs et coutumes de la France, Adolphe Chéruel, Paris 1899 ; L’univers, Histoire et Description de tous les peuples, Dictionnaire encyclopédique de la France, volume 2, ed. Le Bas, Firmin Didot Brothers, Paris 1840), the actual ceremony included the presence of a “Mister Tropic”, or a character comparable to Neptune, sometimes accompanied by Amphitrite and other characters of his court. In both cases, this ceremony involved cross-dressing, and the reversal of authority on board because Neptune, or Mister Tropic, or Lucifer in this case, arranged the sacrament. The organizer was generally the most experienced sailor, or the one who had crossed the line the most and was not the captain of the ship or another officer. All the members on board who had not crossed the Tropic of Cancer before, officers included, were then forcibly baptized. The baptism itself was generally done by throwing salt water on them. Sometimes certain crews practiced baptism by immerging the subject directly in the sea, held by a rope. It was a dramatized rite of passage, a cathartic experience to mark the passage of an imaginary border between the known and the unknown. Due to the reversal of authority on board and the initiatory ritual based on the sacrament of baptism, the line-crossing ceremony was an important moment in the life of a crew and contributed to boosting its morale. In any case, it broke the monotony of a very long voyage. Jean-Baptiste-Antoine de Verger (1762-1851), second lieutenant in the Royal Deux-Ponts regiment, who was aboard The Brave with the companies of grenadiers and chasseurs of the regiment, described this maritime tradition as “ridiculous ceremonies” in his journal (p 171, The American campaigns of Rochambeau’s Army, vol. 1). Louis-Alexandre Bertier, Rochambeau’s aide-de-camp, did the same in a much more inspired fashion (p. 227 of the same work). [see also Harry Miller Lydenberg, Crossing the Line, Tales of the Ceremony during four centuries, New York Public Library Bulletin, volumes LIX-LXI, 1955-1957].