KEK, my Dad said the same, WWII So. Pacific. They were initiated being blind folded, and the deck hoses turned on them as they tried to crawl across the ship, all the while through a gauntlet of paddles. When they crossed over their faces rubbed into a fat sailor's belly filled with graphite, they poured a 3.2 beer down his gullet and removed the blindfold.
You are correct Anon, it was the Equator, not the Intl. Date Line.