NOTE: This cache is 1 of 16 associated with the Ol' Salty Dog's Maritime Mixer cache series.
Find your way to the physical cache container at the coordinates revealed by solving the puzzle below. In the physical cache container, attached to the log, you will find a "puzzle piece" that will get you one step closer to finding Ol' Salty Dog's Maritime Mixer.
Although crossing the equator may seem like a routine event for any modern-day naval vessel, navies have celebrated the time-honored tradition for centuries. Back in the days of wooden ships, line-crossing ceremonies were designed to test young sailors on their first cruise out in the open sea.
The rich tradition of line-crossing ceremonies often involved varied events throughout which Pollywogs, the term given to those who have not crossed the equator before, were put through a series of initiation rites involving harrowing and often embarrassing tasks, gags, obstacles, physical hardships, and generally good-humored mischief. After the ceremony, the sailors were inducted into the "Solemn Mysteries of the Ancient Order of the Deep" meaning that King Neptune had accepted them as one of his trusty Shellbacks. With the Pollywog to Shellback transition complete, a certificate is often awarded to the new Shellback as a rite of passage.
When the ceremonies were first conducted, they were physically challenging and could even be painful or embarrassing to the sailors. Today, the event is voluntary and is conducted more for entertainment purposes and morale boosting than anything else.
Other milestones such as sailing on all five Great Lakes and sailing around the tip of South America have also been adopted into this tradition. Listed below are some of the various designations and fraternities commemorating other significant milestones that may occur in a sailor's career. Utilize your sleuthing skills and match each listed designation or fraternity (annotated as A through H) with the correct description from the bottom in order to determine the correct adjacent number to assign to each missing decimal minute digit of this puzzle cache's coordinates.
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N 46° 3A.BCD' |
W 111° 4E.FGH' |
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A = Order of Magellan
B = Order of the Ditch
C = Order of the Red Nose
D = Domain of the Golden Dragon
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E = Order of the Square Rigger
F = Order of the Sparrow
G = Order of the Spanish Main
H = Golden Shellback
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| 0 |
For maritime personnel who have passed through the Suez Canal
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| 6 |
For maritime personnel who have crossed the Antarctic Circle
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| 9 |
For maritime personnel who have sailed in the Caribbean
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| 8 |
For maritime personnel who have passed through the Panama Canal
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| 4 |
For maritime personnel who have crossed the Arctic Circle
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| 2 |
For maritime personnel who have passed through the point where the Equator crosses the International Date Line
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| 5 |
For maritime personnel who have crossed into the Black Sea
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| 2 |
For maritime personnel who have served aboard the USCGC Eagle or USS Constitution
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| 7 |
For maritime personnel who have sailed on all seven seas
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| 3 |
For maritime personnel who have crossed the Equator at the prime meridian
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| 1 |
For maritime personnel who have crossed the International Date Line
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| 7 |
For maritime personnel who have circumnavigated the Earth
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