TIGER LILLY - CROSSING THE LINE
27 August 2013 | Equator
Tom & Lilly
SHIP's LOG - 27 August 2013 at 0441 Latitude 0-00.0N/S Longitude 047-49.8W, course south, speed 4.2 knots, wind light from the east-southeast, barometer 1010.2 mb and rising. Mains'l, stays'l, and yankee set close-hauled on the port tack - vane gear steering. Off the mouth of the mighty Rio Amazon S/V TIGER LILLY crossed the Line and entered the Southern Hemisphere. King Neptune, his Royal Scribe Davy Jones, and the entire Royal Court came up out of the deep on a sled pulled by a team of golden dolphin escorted by a pod of silver porpoise. Davy Jones hailed TIGER LILLY and ordered her to heave-to. We furled the yankee, put the helm over, and backed the stays'l; hove-to on the starboard tack. Neptune and his entourage came aboard over the starboard rail. Shellback Tom-Tom the sailor Man, initiated in these same Brazilian waters in 1970 aboard the USS Shangri-La (CVA-38), welcomed his Royal Highness aboard. Neptune took command of TIGER LILLY and properly initiated Pollywog Lilly into the sublime and mystic "ROYAL ORDER OF SHELLBACKS". Knowing the gal had just weathered the vicissitudes of Cabo Norte's inferno of mud, the Rey de Mar gave this tired sailorette a pat on the butt, a wink of his wise old eye, and an easy pass into his Kingdom of the Deep. After suitable honors and libations, King Neptune directed TIGER LILLY to proceed on duties assigned, and he and his Royal Court returned from whence they came. 0500 - fair-sheeted the stays'l, underway on the port tack, tacked to the south, and set the yankee. Distance to go to the Rio Para sea buoy 13 miles.
Afterwards, a very subdued Lilly remarked, "Tom-Tom, when you told me that Davy Jones would be coming aboard I got all excited expecting to see the MONKEES cute lead singer - not this gruff old fellow with a hook for a hand, an black eye-patch, and yucky seaweed hanging all over him! Hmmm, let's see, in 1970 you were a Petty Officer aboard a US Navy aircraft carrier on the way to Yankee Station off the coast of North Vietnam, and I had a pre-teen crush on Davy Jones - this is starting to explain some of our disconnects! YOU CRADLE ROBBER! And you are looking more and more like that Royal Scribe fellow everyday - but I am SO glad you shaved that horrible Shellback beard."