Word: shellbacks
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Most of the men who go down to the sea in ships at one time or another cross the line. The line means a whole lot to these men; there is a venerable air and a patriarchal feeling that permeates the breast of an old shellback as he nears the 30th parallel...
...N.M.U. sees in this program a direct threat to its power. Most recruits are pink-cheeked, corn-fed youngsters from the Midwest who have never seen deep water, or been exposed to unionism. They are far different from the old-line shellback malcontents who were duck soup for Curran's earlier pinko type of organizing, and they are not obliged to hold union cards. Only 1,000 to 1,500 monthly swing over to N.M.U. This percentage is not big enough if Curran is to hold his grip...
...former pollywog members of the President's party have all survived [their Equator-crossing initiation], but while they are recuperating, this dispatch is being sent not by Mr. [Secretary Steve] Early but by the Senior Shellback himself...
...Charles Island they took ashore gifts (food, medicine, newspapers, magazines) from the Senior Shellback to Heinz Wittmer & family, Mr. & Mrs. Elmir A. Conway of California and five Ecuadorian Indians who constitute the island's population...
Meanwhile, Franklin I continued aboard the Houston down the west coast of Mexico, battling yellow-tails, striped pargo, bluejacks, broomtailed groupers, losing a big shark. At the Equator, the usual elaborate horseplay for "pollywogs" who had never crossed it before was conducted by the "shellbacks." Chief pollywog was Secretary Stephen Early, the Press's sole contact with the President. Chief shellback: Franklin Roosevelt...