Initiation began having a fire house turned on you. By the end of that you were cold and wet. The you had to "kiss the babe", which was the hairy rear-end of a sailor and yell shellback. Then you were given a "haircut".
This is Captain getting control of the ship from a "pirate"
At the end of the initiation, polliwogs were forced to slide down while being beaten by shellbacks. They would put pieces of canvas over manila cable, soaked in water and hit sailors as they slid down the board.
Polliwogs were put in stocks and had their behinds beaten.
They were held down in a tank of water until they yelled "shellback!"
HI Roy,
ReplyDeleteThat's my dad in the pirate outfit holding the movie camera.
Mark M. White.
Hope you are well.
John White
My Dad , James Lynch was on the Pickens from 1944-1946. Loved seeing the pictures. just watched the “Pacific war in color“ on the Smithsonian channel. Unbelievable to think of what those kids went through.
ReplyDelete