Wetting-down

:"For the christening of fire engines, see Wetdown."Wetting-down is a raucous ceremony observed in the U.S. and British Navies including the U.S. Coast Guard for newly promoted officers. Formerly, it always involved tossing the new officer in the sea, hence the name.

Procedure

The wetting-down celebration is always paid for and hosted by the newly promoted officer, who invites his or her friends, which usually includes several officers of the same rank at which he or she has most recently served.

Normally the party occurs at a bar or pub frequented by officers. The location of the party is a big clue as to the form of the ceremony: when the party occurs in a dockside bar, the officer's friends are expected to (carefully) throw him or her into the sea. If the location is a park many miles inland from an otherwise available ocean, then the officer has very likely elected to dispense with the "wet" part of the party.

The "wet" part of the wetting-down is at the new officer's option, and must always be directly confirmed with the new officer before the party. His or her jocular friends should under no circumstances be relied on for this important point of protocol. Although permission is always required, the new officer is expected to react more or less as if it were a surprise.

Being located in a bar, there is typically a great deal of drinking of alcohol. There must always be at least one ceremonial toast. Friends present several rowdy speeches expressing their appreciation of the new officer's good comradeship and copious faults. Often one of the speeches describes an embarrassing event in the new officer's career, which occurred under the old rank.

The final speech must always be entirely complimentary. Ideally, there should be no dry eyes after the final speech, particularly if the speaker is the new officer's father. During the final speech it is considered honourable and complimentary to discreetly wipe one's eyes, if needed.

In its most exuberant (and most traditional) form, the wetting-down ceremony ends with the former peers of the new officer as a group carrying him or her out to the ocean, and tossing him or her in. Having previously approved, the new officer is expected to cheerfully submit.

"Good" friends have plenty of dry towels available. Wise officers change into old clothes before going to their wetting-down celebration, although in its highest form, the new officer wears a dress uniform into the sea.

Improvisations

A wetting-down party is informal. Improvisations on the ceremony are the rule, not the exception.

The most common improvisation is to dispense with the seawater, or any kind of water whatsoever for that matter. This is an especially popular change among new officers.

The senior officer present is expected to make the final speech. Sometimes the final speech is presented by the new officer's father, especially if he has served in a Navy. If present, the commanding officer who made the promotion normally makes the final speech, although for particularly exhuberent wetting-down parties, parents and senior officers are not usually invited, and the honor falls to one of the new officer's close friends.

Occasionally a scuba diver hides under the pier to briefly grab the new officer from below, and, more seriously, to act as a lifeguard.

If the ocean is unavailable or fatally cold, a bucket of "almost" warm seawater may be substituted.

For inland ceremonies, a bucket of seawater is sometimes brought to the party from a great distance by the new officer's friends who arrive from a seaside posting. In the case of a bucket, it is considered high form if at least one conspicuously live fish is in the seawater.

If no bucket is available, a glassful of clean icewater is sometimes substituted. This is the typical minimum "wet" part of a wetting-down.

It is never acceptable to use any beverage containing alcohol for dousing the newly promoted officer. Hence, at a wetting down, unlike some modern victory celebrations, neither beer nor champagne are ever poured on anyone's head. This follows from seamen's traditional reverence for alcohol, which is a carefully used commodity when at sea, if it is available at all.

Cautions

When seawater is used in the traditional form of the ceremony, great care should be exercised to avoid spilling it or dripping it within a commercial establishment. Businesses which are dripped on or dumped on often demand large compensation from the host for damages, and thereafter refuse to cater unofficial Navy parties.

Certain seaweeds leave stains that cannot be washed out. Never wear a dress uniform you are not willing to throw away to a traditional wetting-down. This advice holds for all attendees, since on occasion, persons other than the host have become wet.

The speeches discussing the newly elevated officer's faults or past embarrassing incidents should be carefully presented, so that no information is provided that might prove useful in a criminal investigation.

Meaning

Throwing a fellow officer into the ocean symbolically represents the new officer's departure from the friends with whom he or she formerly shared rank.

At a time when the new officer is more or less between ranks, wetting-down represents a last opportunity for former equals in rank to treat a newly superior officer with disrespect and with open affection.

Being doused combines a very proud moment in a person's life with a lesson in humility. It also makes the event easy to remember.

History

In most Navies, officers wear stripes on the cuff of their uniform jacket. Upon promotion, a new stripe would be added to the cuff. The new, clean stripe would often stand out from the older, more weathered stripes. "Wetting down" was often an attempt to get the new stripe to match the older stripes so the promotion would not look as recent. Today, an officer will usually replace all of the stripes upon each promotion in an attempt to maintain a more professional uniform appearance.

ee also

*Rite of passage

References