Crossing Equator March 20th at 15:37:20

All seafarers must be baptized the first time crossing the Equator, if not King Neptune will not protect us from bad weather. At 15:37:20 today we crossed the Equator line, going north, from south. To honour the traditions we had a solemn ceremony.

All crew and workers were invited out on deck 7. After crossing line, Captain Hansen welcomed King Neptun  and the the Queen with their helpers.






King Neptune`s first victim was our Safety Officer. We had promised our colleagues at MS Lofoten to make sure he was baptised probably, since he was on his first crossing at sea. After that all new crew had to be baptized according to Neptune`s rules. His helpers had a lot to do since 30 crew and 12 italian workers were crossing the Equator for the first time. They were served a mixed soup, fish, eggs and a special biscuit.
On the look on their faces and the smell in the air, the food wasn`t up to the normal Fram standard.

King Neptune alias First Engineer Jonny and his Queen alias Chief Engineer Tormod, were very happy with the ceremony on board MV Fram today. They want to thank all their helpers and of course all participants. They would also like to invite you to join us for the next crossing in October 2010, then crossing Equator sailing from north to south. If you think this looks interesting, please send an email to chief.purser.fr@hurtigruten.com

PS; as a passenger you can choose to participate in the baptism, or just watch, but as seafarer or worker, there is now excuse to not show up – then the police will find you – MV Fram is a “small” ship.