The "shellback" initiation is a traditional ceremony dating back to when Noah was a boy.    From Wordnik.com.  [Archive 2005-01-01] Reference

"Very good, sir," replied our old shellback of a coxswain.    From Wordnik.com.  [Young Tom Bowling The Boys of the British Navy] Reference

"Ship ahoy, me tarry shellback!" he shouted as Barry entered.    From Wordnik.com.  [Gold Out of Celebes] Reference

Her shellback thimblecasket mirror only can show her dearest friendeen.    From Wordnik.com.  [Finnegans Wake] Reference

What does my being a shellback have anything to do with being a no-show?.    From Wordnik.com.  [Mayor Sam's Hotsheet for Thursday] Reference

Yes, I am a shellback initiated into the Ancient Order of the Solemn Mysteries of the Deep.    From Wordnik.com.  [Mayor Sam's Hotsheet for Thursday] Reference

It was a hard saying, and many an old shellback -- ay! and young one too -- spat viciously when he heard it.    From Wordnik.com.  [The Press-Gang Afloat and Ashore] Reference

How could he give his life, with all its fair possibilities, all its high hopes, for this worn-out old shellback?.    From Wordnik.com.  [The Moving Finger A Trotting Christmas Eve at Warwingie Lost! The Loss of the "Vanity" Dick Stanesby's Hutkeeper The Yanyilla Steeplechase A Digger's Christmas] Reference

The amateur shellback caught sight of Barry, standing regarding him with an amused grin, and he ceased his labors.    From Wordnik.com.  [Gold Out of Celebes] Reference

MR. BIXBY: Can any one here tell me where seedlings of the big western shellback, Carya laciniosa, can be obtained?.    From Wordnik.com.  [Northern Nut Growers Association, Report Of The Proceedings At The Tenth Annual Meeting. Battle Creek, Michigan, December 9 and 10, 1919] Reference

Also, half an hour before the impact we had the sphere access open getting mooring lines preped for our shellback initiation, luck was on our side.    From Wordnik.com.  [Archive 2005-01-01] Reference

Check out golden-shellback. com for more information.    From Wordnik.com.  [IntoMobile - Cell Phone News, Information, and Analysis] Reference

'He's got his bath already,' remarked a grim shellback.    From Wordnik.com.  [The Nigger of the Narcissus] Reference

I'm glad I joined the Army Mr. trusty honorable shellback.    From Wordnik.com.  [Latest Articles] Reference

The word was no sooner spoken than our shellback again excelled himself.    From Wordnik.com.  [A Labrador Doctor The Autobiography of Wilfred Thomason Grenfell] Reference

The man of action, were he but some shaggy-bearded shellback, appealed to him.    From Wordnik.com.  [A Tramp's Notebook] Reference

I'm only a drunken old shellback, an 'I ought to be struck dead for my bloody sins.    From Wordnik.com.  [Rídan The Devil And Other Stories 1899] Reference

The old shellback glanced at me; but only muttered something, and went on his way aft.    From Wordnik.com.  [The Ghost Pirates: Chapter 1] Reference

It sounded almost too good to be true that this old shellback had been harpooned at last.    From Wordnik.com.  [Ma Pettengill] Reference

He was also a "shellback, twice over," meaning he'd passed over the equatorial line two times.    From Wordnik.com.  [News Review - Top Stories] Reference

Going to storm too bad to do much work for 'em, and I bet it's some cranky old shellback farmer, living 'way out here like this.    From Wordnik.com.  [The Innocents A Story for Lovers] Reference

I mostly remember it was close to the equator, shellback initiation when we crossed the equator, and the heat of the engine room.    From Wordnik.com.  [RealClimate] Reference

When any Navy ship crosses the equator, its crew members are invited to go through an initiation and earn the coveted title of shellback.    From Wordnik.com.  [PNJ - News] Reference

"I found you on the road out here in a dazed state of mind, and you knew nothing whatever of ships or of sailors, though I took you for a shellback by your walk.".    From Wordnik.com.  [The Grain Ship] Reference

Why, he told me I was a whale of a shellback, and he's going to teach me .... ".    From Wordnik.com.  [Gold Out of Celebes] Reference

You strike me as being a cut above the ordinary shellback, and I think you've sense enough to hold your tongue. ".    From Wordnik.com.  [The Ghost Pirates: Chapter 12] Reference

You strike me as being a cut above the ordinary shellback, and I think you’ve sense enough to hold your tongue.”.    From Wordnik.com.  [The Ghost Pirates] Reference

"` Mornin ',' says the man at the wheel, who was a rough old shellback, and didn't waste his words like Pat Doolan here.    From Wordnik.com.  [On Board the Esmeralda Martin Leigh's Log - A Sea Story] Reference

"Do I?" demanded the old shellback.    From Wordnik.com.  [The Boy Aviators' Treasure Quest] Reference

"I'm a shellback twice over," she said.    From Wordnik.com.  [PNJ - News] Reference

A pumpkin-headed old shellback. '.    From Wordnik.com.  [The Magic Pudding] Reference

"shellback.".    From Wordnik.com.  [Ruggles of Red Gap] Reference

"Why, old shellback?".    From Wordnik.com.  [The Penang Pirate and, The Lost Pinnace] Reference

"Hello, Sour-dough, you old shellback!.    From Wordnik.com.  [Ruggles of Red Gap] Reference

"You were ambling out like an old shellback.    From Wordnik.com.  [The Submarine Hunters A Story of the Naval Patrol Work in the Great War] Reference

See, I'm also a tarry shellback way down deep. ".    From Wordnik.com.  [Gold Out of Celebes] Reference