Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1896-10-22
SAILORS Pers.



Three things, writes q naval con-
tributor, there are which do more
than anything else 20 tighten the
burden of existence such as it Is
borne by Jack Tar, says the West
minister Gazette. These three are
grog, the hornpipe and pct animal,
and the pet animal Is the greatest
solace of the three. There is scarce
~ a vessel afoat, from one of our
line of battle ships down to q canal
boat. that has not twoo four foot
ed pet on board. Sailorsproverbially
make pets of almost any animal
they are shipmates with-elephants,
bears, sheep, goats, monkeys, ga
zelles and raccoons among the mann
malta, bantam cocks, parrots. cock
atoos, magpies and sea gulls among
bipeds, and even inhabitants of the
ocean, such as seals and turtle, have
been laid under contribution TO pro-
vide amusement for our bluejackets!
An elephant seems "a large or
der" as q sailors pet aboard ship,
but who of the senior naval. officers
does not remember the vessel called
by the nickname of III. NJ. s. Me-
nagerie, and the elephant on board
of that paddle wheel~frigate when
they were on the Indian station:
The elephant was regularly stationed
and harnessed to the jib halyards,
and yhen the order was given to
Make all plain sail" he made tri-
umphant BELOW and ran along the
waist until the pipe was sounded to
"BelayW to the delenda est Car
thago of any toes that got into his
wayl
Admiral Sir G.. W told me
that when he commanded an Indian
troopshipa full grown tiger was en-
barked for passage to England as a
present from some Indian prince to
the queen. It was a magnificent
animal, and for many years after
ward was exhibited at the geological
gardens. One morning, about $50,
the captain was awakened by a mes
senger, who said, please sir, the
tiger has broken loose" His reply
was, Lock my cabin door, and call
me when he's in his cage again." It
appears that in cleaning the cage,
the men being then washing decks,
the door of the cage had been un-
fastened and the beast had escaped,
causing a regular stampede, the
bluejackets forward running up the
rigging and the soldiers taking to
the hammock MEETINGS and the hurri-
cane deck. The tiger ran aft; the
men had not heard of its escape and
were throwing buckets of water
about. The scene appeared to puzzle
the tiger. AT any rate. an old quarter
master realized the situation, and
taking his lantern flashed it full in
the face of the tiger. He then took
the animal by the scruff of the neck,
ran it forward to its cage and slam
med and fastened the door in jiffy.
Here is another anecdote of a real
pet, this time in the same ship.
There are several officers now alive
who can vouch for the truth of this
story. The first lieutenant had a
very jolly little monkey, quite q
general favorite. One evening, Just
before dinner, on a guest night, the
ship being in harbor, the first lieu
tenant went into his cabin with the
monkey, and, opening box of very
choice Havana cigars rather hastily,
by accident smashed two of them
the parts of which he threw over
board out of his cabin port. Then,
filling his cigar case, as dinner was
already on the table, he left the box
on the table and hurried to mess.
1t had been the custom for his
monkey to follow him and wait by
the table for morsel of food now
and again. This evening, after some
little time had elapsed, and the
monkey did not appear, his owner,
excusing himself for a minute, ran
back to his cabin to see what his pet
was doing, knowing besides, having
q strong initiative trait of character,
it was generally up to some mischief
or other. Alas, he was too late! The
monkey had only too well initiated
his master. for as the first lieutenant
entered the cabin, he was Just in
time to see the last of his cherished
weeds taken out of the box and
thrown out Of the port overheard.