\Crossing the Line\" copperplate engraving art by A. Earle, engraved by T. Landseer. From \"Narrative of the surveying voyages of HMS Adventure and Beagle\" Vol II (1839). On 11th October 1832 the Beagle crossed the equator at 25 degrees west. The Southern hemisphere was saluted with guns and then in Fitzroy's words \"A sailor\" \"appeared as Neptune, attired in a manner that was meant to be terribly imposing, accompanied by his consort, seated in a gun carriage instead of a shell, drawn by negroes, as substitutes for tritons\". Fitzroy goes on to quote another source that a cheerful man is much more able to resist disease and melancholy, and \" it is the duty of a commander to use every innocent means of maintaining this temper\". Darwin reports that \"I have undergone the disagreeable operation of being shaved. The constable blindfolded me\". This appears the fate of the man in the background."