ODD MOMENTS

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 9, 12 January 1932, Page 15

ODD MOMENTS

LNDIAL PASSENGERS

STEERING ELEPHANT

Said one of the men who will attend Phar Lap on the voyage from Wellington to San Francisco, "I wouldn't mind sleeping here myself." He was referring—with justice—to .the champion's elaborate quarters ou the boat deck of the Union Company's steamer Monowai (writes J. H. Adams in the Sydney "Daily Telegraph"). Phar Lap's "cabin do luxe" is 15ft square, and has padding nearly a foot thick. It is built so that ou rough days he is protected from driving spray, and on warm days can enioy the iresli air. He has an exercise yard the same size as hia "cabin," well railed in and capable of holding twelve tons of sand. "Cabin" and yard aro connected by a railed-off path of matting tacked on the deck and covered liberally with sawdust to prevent his slipping. „ Seamen often Ehow a strong affection for 'animal passengers" committed to their care. Some will remember for a lifetime the loss of a racehorse when the Kanowna sank with her side torn out on Cleft Island. The horse, which was being carried J m the 'tween-deeks, showed an uncanny ! sense of danger as soou as the passengers were taken off. It whinnied pitifully, pawing at its stall. Officers returned to the ship. They found rescue impossible, however, and being unarmed, they could not mercifully kill the horse. They did the next best thing. They set it free—thus giving it a fighting chance. But it went down with the ship. A GOAT HUNT. There is a lighter side to animal lif» at sea. In the days when the old Musgrave was running in the Queensland gulf", trade, she: would take aboard a live bullock at Nornianton, -to be killed for fresh meat during the voyage. Floods on one trip prevented stock from reaching Norinanton, so the Musgravc's captain telegraphed to Thursday Island au order for several goats. The goats were missing when the island was reached. -"We did not get your-wire," said the agent, "but if you come to the pilot station we will soon get the goats." "I did not know you wanted goats," said the pilot, when all the officers rolled out in force, "so I turned them loose- But you can easily run some of them down.". The officers did run down two "billygoats" too old to get out of their way, and took them back to tho Musgrave in triumph. The "billys" died soon after the Musgrave sailed. They wore tough—very tough. But the cook tried auto-suggestion by calling them on the menu "roast lamb and green peas." When a circus elephant travelled "steerage" on the old Pilbarra, he made the ship unmanageable, and might have caused a disaster. The Pilbarra picked up ■ Jumbo at Fremantle, and was half-way across the Bight whe:i he started a circus of his own. The chief officer decided to "swing the compass," and ordered the quartermaster to_ put the helm "hard aport." The ship kept straight on.' Jumbo, from his crate on the after-deck, had torn up the steering rods with his trunk! CAT CONCERTS. At one stage of her career in the FijiAustralia trade, the Levuka carried more cats than passengers. The cats, on a calm, moonlit night, would foregather on the for'ard deck, where there was neither passenger nor crew accommodation. "Cat concerts" were frequent and sustained, aud the captain could get no sleep. "Keep those cats quiet,- chief!" he bellowed one night. "Can't, sir. Spare man on watch has been trying to." "I'll fix them!" snorted the "old man," retiring to his cabin and returninf with a rifle issued by the Commonwealth Government for the explosion of floating mines. To the spare man on watch he said: "You chase them down here towards me, and I'll shoot them." Just then a youth ana a woman • merged from the shaded seclusion of the for'ard hatch, where they had been carrying on a mild flirtation away from prying eyes. "Don't shoot!" begged tho young man, arms over his head, as he approached the pyjama-clad skipper. "We'll go quietly," he said to the levelled rifle. Chatterers are not welcome on board ship. Monkeys are renowned for their "gossip," and will talk all night. For that reason they are taboo on P. and O. liners.