The first authentic account of the ordeal observed on board ship dates 1702. One sailor represents Neptune and another his wife Amphitrite; another his barber and the rest his suite. All dress in the most grotesque raiment they can obtain. A tarred topsail is formed into a bath, and a throne is provided for Neptune and his wife. Those midshipmen who have never crossed the line are then brought forth, while the men pour over them buckets of water, or play the fire hose into their faces. Their faces being tarred are scraped by the barber, and the victims are then soused into the bath provided. Here they are left to struggle out and make their escape as they best can. This horse-play is now almost entirely, and in most cases wholly abolished.