The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-10-04
A ship That Was Manned by Pet.

A Ship That Was Manned by Pets.
A case where pets possessed them
selves of a ship, although not quite
so forcibly as Johnny did, came within
my own experience.
When the United States Transport
Zealandia arrived in Manila in 1898
with the Tenth Pennsylvania aboard.
the natives swarmed around with all
sorts of things for sale. but prin-
cipally monkeys. Every soul aboard
at once became possessed with a burn
ing desire to own a monkey, SO all
that the natives had and could get
were brought aboard. Every day the
monkey population increased by two
or three. until at last they numbered
| almost a hundred. We were allowed
to keep them so long as they did no
harm and kept out of the CAPTAINS
ca bin.
There We're monkeys of all Sizes
some no larger than kittens, others
as big as human babies. We kept
/ them aft as much as possible, away
from the officers quarters where they
congregated in a lively chattering
community.
Each monkey had an individuality
distinctly different from the rest. Few
people have seen monkeys together in
numbers and know how strikingly
marked is the individual character of
each one. Some were fighters and
self-assertive, some We're timid, some
were sentimental. some sullen. some
cheerful and fond of jokes, and some
were thoughtful.
My monkey soon became famous
or notorious, rather-as the bruiser of
the community. She-for it was a
! lady monkey-spent her entire time
of wakefulness in SQUEEZING about the
decks hunting trouble. Her presence
was always announced by short rasp-
| ing coughs that struck terror to all
| the other monkeys and sent tn an
| scampering. Then Jenny as we
called her. would come swinging down
some rope or backstay, or around
some corner. her shoulders hunched
! up, her long arms sWaying and her
small fists doubled up. Nor did she
! draw any sharp lines between men and
monkeys.
! One night the bos'n sat in my room
I when Jenny's cough sounded in the
open window. She leaped down to
! the Washstand, whence she reached up
and laid claim to the bos'n's cigar.
! OF course. the bos'n refused to part
with his smoke, whereupon Jenny
| gave him resounding slap across the
cheek. This so ratified the bos'n that
! he dropped his cigar and a minute
later Jenny disappeared out of the
! window with her prize. Whether she
| smoked it or not we never knew. but
her sense of morality never deferred
her.
The Monkey That Was Sentimental.
Then there was little Tommy. He
was a small chap and belonged to my
Watchmate. Tommy was the senti-
mental monkey. No matter who came
near him he would put his arms
around his neck, and, closing his eyes,
lean his little head on the mans
shoulder. For every monkey who would
let him he showed a similar affection
ate regard.
Above my washstand was a looking
glass under which, in a rack, were two
bottles of fire extinguishing fluid.
| Tommy would sit on the cork of one
| bottle, hold fast to the neck of the
other with his feet and lovingly cud-
| die up to his reflection in the glass
kissing it most fervently and closing
his eyes in ecstasy.
OF evenings we would all gather
around our community of pets and
watch them in social intercourse On
| these occasions we kept Jenny locked
up, as she always gave an atmosphere
of impending trouble to these meetings,
which were none too peaceful without
| her.
But one day this happy state of af-
fairs was brought to a sudden end.
Jimmy. the mischievous sprite of the
outfit, little black-faced fellow be-
| longing to a sergeant, brought dis
! grace upon himself and the rest of us
by venturing into forbidden domain
| the captains cabin.
We all heard about 1t soon enough.
He got on top of the captains desk AMI
became interested in the log book
| Whether from editorial disapproval, or
simply pure mischief. we never knew,
| but he deliberately tore out whole
pages from the log book and also
dipped his paws into the ink well and
then smeared out entries Of entire
! days. This was all, otherwise he did
no harm. 1t was just his attempted
revision of the log book that brought
! on the storm. Next day the whole
colony of monkeys, Jenny, Tommy and
Jimmy included, were sent ashore,
and sorrowful and petless we discon-
| solately watched them go.