My first time crossing the line was in 1954 on the Port Jackson. They got both me and the other catering boy plus the peggie.
We got the lot. A temporary canvas swimming pool had been erected for the warm weather while we were at sea. We were dunked and held under the water water in the pool to look for Neptune's lost mermaid, shaved with a two foot long mock open razor, and lathered with what looked like axel grease, the muck was poured over us and we had to chew on a pill, that was made out of soap, hosed down, tossed back into the pool and when we came out, Neptune told us we were now fully qualified seaman.
I remember there wasn't an officer in sight, while the ceremony was going on, and the couple of bloods on the ship were warned to stay away or don't complain.
It wasn't that bad, it was the horror stories that was told to us boys leading up to the ceremony by our "mates" that gave us the shivers.
Cheers, Rodney