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Hokitika Guardian, 27 August 1920, Page 2

On April 16th., when HALS. Renown , was ploughing through the Pacific, cn . route to New Zealand, she was visited i by some strange apparitions. Thero was i Neptune in full regalia, attended by an imposing retinue, there were seanymphs, heralds, clerks of assize, bears, '■ ■ and last but not least barbers with their assistants. The god of the ocean had after immemorial custom come aboard j I to initiate with solemn rites those who I hod never before crossed the equator, I and “Crossing the Line” is a semi-offi- , cial account of the subsequent proceedings!. Neptune discovered many old friends on the Renown. Admiral Sir Lionel Halsey, for instance had crossed the equator two hundred times —indeed, “it was understoid that for some time he had supported himself on the “line,” and on this occasion he was invested .with the order of the old sea dogs. Othera, including Colonel Grigg had crossed the line more or less Frequently, but for some reason had never l>een completely initiated. Neptune removed the reproach. He was no respecter of persons; to high and low alike he dispensed ever-handed justice, ond i the Prince of AVales himself had to submit to the attentions of the amphibious barber before the freedom of the Southern Seas was conferred upon him. (Everything went with a swing after the w T ay they have in the navy; the performers delivered the specially written libretto with great effect, arid “Crossing , the Line” will have a place entirely its own in the body of literature about the Prince’s tour.