is
the old custom of shaving and ducking (which, by the bye, is a
barbarous one) at all excusable.

When it is permitted to be practised, it should only be under certain
regulations, as the consequences have frequently been very serious, for
want of some salutary restrictions; in some cases the harmony that has
existed amongst the society on board has been destroyed; actions at
law, and duels, fevers from exposure daring the day's amusement, have
ensued: it is, therefore, imperatively necessary that the law should
take cognizance of this custom, and enforce some rigorous rules for the
government of all commanders of vessels, whenever circumstances should
permit the indulgence of this indefensible practice. In the first
place, the ship should be always put under snug sail; and that part of
the vessel, in which the scene takes place, should be completely
screened in, and no cruel or offensive practices permitted. The Captain
should always have the power of protecting his officers and passengers
from being compelled to submit to the demands of old Neptune, by paying
a small fine for the exemption: say cabin passengers, five shillings,
steerage passengers half-a-crown. The sum total of these fines should
be divided among those sailors who had previously crossed the line;
and, if any of the sailors on board should be found to throw water,
rope yarns dipped in tar, or in any other way insult, or annoy, persons
who do not take a part in their proceedings, they should be punished as
they would for a similar breach of discipline at any other time. There
is one example, which I feel at liberty to quote, and which was nearly
the occasion of a court-martial on the senior lieutenant of one of H.M.
ships that arrived in Simon's Bay during my residence at the Cape of
Good Hope. The circumstance was as follows:--The purser of the ship had
shut himself up in his cabin, determined to resist any forcible attempt
to make him undergo the ceremony of shaving; but those who were engaged
in it, were resolved that he should not be permitted to escape: they
accordingly forced the door of his cabin, from which they got him out,
dragged him on deck, and performed the ceremony, in spite of his
efforts and remonstrances. The charge against the first lieutenant was,
I understood, for encouraging the persons who committed this act of
violence. This formed the grounds of an application for a
court-martial, which was only prevented from taking place by