Attention All Scoundrels and Pollywogs
February 4, 2011 
12 Comments
Yesterday I got an e-mail entitled ‘ATTENTION ALL SCOUNDRELS AND POLLYWOGS.’ As I read it, I realized I was being summoned before King Neptune’s Court. I had never crossed the International Dateline before this trip, and so in the eyes of Neptune I was a pollywog—an insignificant landlubber with no business being at sea. I was going to be tried for trespassing.
This is an age-old sailing tradition—when a ship crosses the dateline, the equator, or either of the polar circles, all the first-timers have to submit to be tried before the veteran sailors, who dress up as members of King Neptune’s Court. The trials themselves are shrouded in secrecy.
In some ways it’s a foolish tradition, but there’s a reason it has lasted so long. On ships there is little to do except work and few places to go to escape your shipmates. Opportunities to break the routine and forge connections between sailors help morale, encourage friendship, and offer a change of pace.
Nowadays the opportunities for recreation onboard aren’t as limited, of course. Read on through the slideshow to see some of the ways people have fun on the ship:
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- Katie Watkins-Brandt, Xiao Liu, Julius Busecke, Mark Harris, and I have just escaped from King Neptune’s court. Captain Maghrabi (right) is no pollywog—he has spent his life at sea, and didn’t have to participate today. We’re all looking back at everyone who’s still in the trial. I’d tell you how the trial went, but as a newly certified Golden Dragon I’m not allowed to. You’ll just have to sail across the dateline yourself.
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- In Antarctica photography is a great way to relax, as long as you can stand the weather on deck. When we were pushing through the ice along Ross Island, mountains, whales, penguins, and seals were everywhere. So were photographers: scientists and crewmembers prowled the decks holding stealth-black cameras with long lenses, like agents in a spy movie. Here, Dr. Scott Fay makes the most of the crisp light at 1:30 a.m.
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- Chief scientist Dr. Adam Kustka shifts to the attack as glider wrangler Eli Hunter holds his line at midfield in a game of foosball. This table is in the helicopter hangar on the 02 Deck, and scientists sometimes disappear up there for some friendly competition between sampling stations.
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- This stack of books in the 03 Deck conference room are part of the ship’s ‘Leave a book, take a book’ program. ‘Or leave a book, take 5 books, since there are so many,’ said Kathleen Gavahan, the ship’s multibeam sonar technician. Among the many romances and mysteries I noticed a few classics, including ‘Catcher in the Rye,’ which even though they make you read it in school, really is a great book.
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- When the New York Times Sunday crossword showed up on our bulletin board, my heart sank. I’ve tried these crosswords before only to give up 30 minutes later. This time Julius Busecke, Ashley New, Dr. Karen Selph, Dr. Chris Measures, and many others put their heads together and solved it in an afternoon. (With one key bit of help from blog reader Canagica!) I was interested in the different ways the scientists approached the problem. Dr. Josh Kohut, a physicist, scanned the clues in bulk looking for answers he could build from. Dr. Bob Sanders, a biologist, stood back and looked for patterns in the way the crossword was put together to learn how it worked.
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- Lindsey Ekern is a marine science technician and the unofficial ‘Nutrient Diva’ aboard the Palmer. She spends her workday in the Hydro Lab, where she continuously analyzes water samples for the nutrients phosphate, nitrite, nitrate, ammonium, and silicate. As the samples run in the analyzer to her left, she has a few minutes to drink hot Chilean maté (from the red gourd by her yarn) and get in a little knitting. The hat she’s wearing is one of her favorite creations. ‘I sewed in a fleece lining, so it’s super comfy and warm,’ she said.
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- The crew of the Palmer has a few musicians on it, including network administrator Bill Jirsa. From time to time people gather in the aft control room to play and sing—past crew members have included a banjo player and a ukulele player as well. The wall mural behind Bill depicts the ship’s Louisiana-bayou origins meeting its Antarctic destinations.
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- Bill played us a song he wrote in 2007 while living in McMurdo Station. It’s called ‘Ivan the Terra Bus’ and it’s about everyone’s favorite Antarctic large vehicle (see Jan. 18 post). Ivan takes people to and from the ice runway at McMurdo, so it’s the first vehicle you get into when you arrive, and the last one you see before you leave. That gives people a special fondness for it that’s reflected in Bill’s song. Look below the slideshow to hear a recording of it.
Listen to Bill Jirsa singing ‘Ivan the Terra Bus,’ recorded in the Palmer’s aft control room today:
[audio:https://coseenow.net/ross-sea//2011/02/Bill-Jirsa-singing-Ivan-the-Terra-Bus.mp3]
Read more in these related posts:
- Antarctica by Redeye (Jan 18)
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