Blue Nose Realm Of The Arctic Circle Patch

The sailor on this patch has his eyes squeezed shut, his Dixie cup pulled down tight and a nose frozen solid blue, which is about how it feels topside once a ship goes north of the Arctic Circle. Ships that cross the circle hold a line-crossing ceremony, and the sailors who complete it join the Order of the Blue Nose in the realm of Boreas Rex, the King of the North. It is the cold-water cousin of the Shellback ceremony for crossing the equator. The ceremony is voluntary and the certificate carries no professional weight, and sailors value it for exactly that reason: the only way in is to be aboard when the ship crosses.

In April 2022 the amphibious transport dock USS Arlington (LPD-24) went north of the circle after exercise Northern Viking 2022 off Iceland, and on 22 April her sailors and Marines held the ceremony. Initiates worked through four cold-water challenges before presenting themselves to Boreas Rex, played that day by a master chief engineman and a Marine sergeant major. Destroyers including USS Donald Cook (DDG-75) and USS Roosevelt (DDG-80) have held Arctic Circle ceremonies of their own in recent years. The details change from ship to ship, but the realm and the king stay the same.

This is a 4 inch round patch with a black merrowed border and a light gray outer ring carrying REALM OF THE ARCTIC CIRCLE across the top and BLUE NOSE along the bottom in black letters. The sailor's profile fills the left side, eyes closed, white Dixie cup on, nose stitched in dark blue. Behind him a light blue polar grid curves around a center disc marked ARCTIC CIRCLE, with a red arc for the line itself and 66°32'33" NORTH stitched beneath it. A small U.S. flag sits in the gray sky at upper right. It reads as a joke and a record at the same time, which is the Blue Nose tradition in one picture.

Line-crossing ceremonies are long-standing customs at sea, and the Navy still holds them because they bring a crew together. Going north means working decks in freezing spray and standing watches in wind that cuts straight through foul weather gear. Sailors who hold both the Shellback and the Blue Nose have been to both ends of the map with the Navy. That counts for something on any mess deck.

Frame it in a shadow box beside your Blue Nose certificate, or put it on a jacket or sea bag from the cruise that took you north. It also makes a fitting gift for a shipmate who crossed the line with you. It has iron-on backing and can be sewn on too. Welcome to the realm of Boreas Rex.