Crossing the equator

Crossing the equator

Crossing the equator, which marked the change from the northern hemisphere to the southern hemisphere, was celebrated at sea by ‘crossing the line’ ceremonies. This initiation rite required sailors who had never crossed the line to appear before ‘King Neptune’ and undergo physical tests to prove they could endure the hardships of life at sea.

While Surgeon General John White records that the seamen on board

Charlotte

didn’t show an ‘inclination … to observe the ceremony usually practised’ when crossing the equator, David Collins, who travelled on HMS

Sirius

, wrote:

Such persons as had never before crossed the Line were compelled to undergo the ridiculous ceremonies which those who were privileged were allowed to perform on them …

The voyage

• 13 May 1787
• 20 May 1787
• 3 June to 10 June 1787
• 21 June 1787
• 14 July 1787
• 6 August to 4 September 1787
• 14 October to 12 November 1787
• 25 November 1787
• 18 to 20 January 1788

Portsmouth, England Release from fetters Santa Cruz, Tenerife Missing Port Praya Crossing the equator Rio De Janeiro, Brazil Table Bay, Cape of Good Hope, South Africa Phillip sails ahead Botany Bay, Australia

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