Dear Merchant Navy, I am researching material for a fiction book which I will write later this year, and am trying to find out some information about the merchant navy in Belfast in 1940s, in particular, I am looking at smuggled monkeys. I know this is an odd request! But I would be most appreciative if you could advise where would be the best place to start.
Kind Regards, Maria Fusco Director of Art Writing Goldsmiths, University of London New Cross London SE14 6NW 020 7919 7685
When I was at sea as a Deck Boy in 1956/7 my cabin mate was a Geordie from the Tyne area and the sailors were always asking him "Well. who hung the monkey then?". It later turned out that there was a story, true or false I do not know, about a monkey who was smuggled ashore around Newcastle one winter and it had snow on its feet. There was a lot of propaganda around at the time about invasion from Russia so when the locals saw the monkey with its snow covered feet they captured it thinking it was a Russian and prompty hung it. I can't elaborate as thats all I know, my guess would be that it might have been after the Russian Revolution, if in fact it is a true story. It sounds improbable but this was way before television and most folk did not travel far from home so thinking that Russians looked like monkeys is quite possible. Stu
