SHIP’S PETS.

Hokitika Guardian, 8 February 1924, Page 1

SHIP’S PETS.

'Naval Officer in Daily Main. The nrovorbial sailer is still sometimes depicted ns rei.uniiiig from foreign parts with a line green parrot whose vocabulary is largely huili up ol profanity. The bulldogs of “Charlie Ba.,’’ a-' •the late Admiral l.ord Bereslord was ah'eclionately failed by his men. arc of course famous. Kaelx shi]> ol his srpiadron had a magnificent specimen of this breed, each one of which was a recognised member ol the ship s company. Hut parrots and bulldogs are only typical of the more ordinary pets. Ihe sailors’ tastes lie also in other directions, and his innate love of animals is 'displayed by the selection of the strangest pets. A long, green grass snake was once the pet of a certain officer. He kept it secretly in a drawer in his eahin. where it made its nest aiming bis collars and socks. One day tile inevitable happened. The drawer was left open and the snake disappeared. Its owner searched in vain—a ship is a very big place. The discovery oi the. snake some three days later in the august hoot ol the admiral, as tin latter was just putting it on, led to the reptile’s instant execution.. On the coast of Asia Minor the littlw streams which run down to tile sea teem with baby tortoises —little fellows with shells about- the size of a penny. Many of these little creatures found secure but scarcely comfortable homes in the sailors’ ditty-boxes. One moie fortunate than the rest had the rnn ol the .Masicr-at-Arnis’ desk, where it lived in a disused ink-well filled with water. It ate lettuce and paper indiscriminately and throve on the strange diet. It became quite intelligent ami would emerge from its ink-well when called. Charlie the Ibex—a species of goat with vorv large horns —occupied an important position in a certain light cruiser. He roamed tlu> ship at his own sweet will. Diet? Paper, spunvarn. and cigarette-ends mostly. All was grist to the wonderful mill inside him. Mist-ha-—a baby bear from Batum — arrived on board in a very small basket. Tie grew apace, however, and soon nothing was safe from his sharp little claws. Cushions, sofas, and curtains only excited his zeal for destruction. He fed on tinned milk and tinned jam and occasionally raided the cook’s galley in search of plum-duff. But perhaps the siragnest pet of all was a lizard which survived the Battle cf Jutland in one of his Majesty’s super-Bre ad nought?—surely the only lizard known to have been through a naval action ?