BEAR GOES TO BED WITH NAVY CADET

Grey River Argus, 28 September 1949, Page 5

BEAR GOES TO BED WITH NAVY CADET

COLOMBO, Sept 26

A Merchant Navy cadet, Ronald Ralph, aged 17, who is making his first see. voyage in the British-Indian steamship Carpentaria, broke all record J when he found a big brown Himalayan female bear beside him in his bunk. The bear was on her way from Calcutta to Sydney’s Taronga Park Zoo and broke loose from her cage. Chief Officer W. E. Davies first found hen sitting on the after hatch .watching one of the Moslem crew performing his morning devotions.

The chase began. The bear ran into Ralph’s -cabin, found a tea tray, swallowed the milk, sugar and tea leaves, and climbed into bed beside the sleeping cadet. When Ralph awoke he made one jump and was out of the cabin. The bear, after visiting the third engineer in his cabin, went to the ship’s dispensary, where she drank a bottle of methylated spirits. A trail of dates eventually coaxed her back to her den.