This is a photograph of a certificate issued to Royal Navy Sailor Charles Pope, which acknowledges he sailed over the Equator demarcation line. The ceremony known as crossing the line is a historic Royal Navy tradition. Charles was a Stoker aboard HMS Ark Royal when the certificate was issued. It is believed the crossing occurred as the Ark made her way to join allied naval forces known as Force K, who were operating in the Southern Atlantic and Indian Oceans in Autumn 1939. Photographs and documents relating to Charles and his career in the Royal Navy can be viewed on line at the West Wales Veterans Archive. The document remains with the family.