The Old Timers Club

[AKvetch]

O.K., I give up. Guess I've pushed this story as far as I can. Actually, I'm the one who got suckered by not questioning it. A little thought, and one would realize you can't stack cannon balls on the deck of a heaving sailing ship. However, for those "old timers" interested in a little edification, here's some real info on the use of Brass Monkey, in naval terminology. The debunking of my Brass Monkey story is in the next-to-last paragraph. A.K.

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Reference: http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq107.htm

Brass Monkey

The word "monkey" is of uncertain origin; its first known usage was in 1498
when it was used in the literary work Reynard the Fox as the name of the
son of Martin the Ape. "Monkey" has numerous
nautical meanings, such as a small coastal trading vessel, single masted
with a square sail of the 16th and 17th centuries; a small wooden cask in
which grog was carried after issue from a grog-tub to the
seamen's messes in the Royal Navy; a type of marine steam reciprocating
engine where two engines were used together in tandem on the same propeller
shaft; and a sailor whose job involved climbing
and moving swiftly (usage dating to 1858). A "monkey boat" was a narrow
vessel used on canals (usage dating to 1858); a "monkey gaff" is a small
gaff on large merchant vessels; a "monkey jacket" is
a close fitting jacket worn by sailors; "monkey spars" are small masts and
yards on vessels used for the "instruction and exercise of boys;" and a
"monkey pump" is a straw used to suck the liquid from a
small hole in a cask; a "monkey block" was used in the rigging of sailing
ships; "monkey island" is a ship's upper bridge; "monkey drill" was
calisthenics by naval personnel (usage dating to 1895); and
"monkey march" is close order march by US Marine Corps personnel (usage
dating to 1952). [Sources: Cassidy, Frederick G. and Joan Houston Hall eds.
Dictionary of American Regional English.
vol.3 (Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press, 1996): 642; Wilfred
Granville. A Dictionary of Sailors' Slang (London: Andre Deutch, 1962): 77;
Peter Kemp ed. Oxford Companion to Ships &
the Sea. (New York: Oxford University; Press, 1976): 556; The Oxford
English Dictionary. New York: Oxford University Press, 1933; J.E. Lighter
ed. Random House Historical Dictionary of
American Slang. (New York: Random House, 1994): 580.; and Eric Partridge A
Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English. 8th ed. (New York:
Macmillan Publishing Company): 917.]

"Monkey" has also been used within an ordnance context. A "monkey" was a
kind of gun or cannon (usage dating to 1650). "Monkey tail" was a short
hand spike, a lever for aiming a carronade
[short-sight iron cannon]. A "powder monkey" was a boy who carried gun
powder from the magazine to cannons and performed other ordnance duties on
a warship (usage dating to 1682). [Source:
The Oxford English Dictionary. New York: Oxford University Press, 1933.]

The first recorded use of the term "brass monkey" appears to dates to 1857
when it was used in an apparently vulgar context by C.A. Abbey in his book
Before the Mast, where on page 108 it says "It
would freeze the tail off a brass monkey." [Source: Lighter, J.E. ed.
Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang. (New York: Random
House, 1994): 262.]

It has often been claimed that the "brass monkey" was a holder or storage
rack in which cannon balls (or shot) were stacked on a ship. Supposedly
when the "monkey" with its stack of cannon ball
became cold, the contraction of iron cannon balls led to the balls falling
through or off of the "monkey." This explanation appears to be a legend of
the sea without historical justification. In actuality,
ready service shot was kept on the gun or spar decks in shot racks (also
known as shot garlands in the Royal Navy) which consisted of longitudinal
wooden planks with holes bored into them, into
which round shot (cannon balls) were inserted for ready use by the gun
crew. These shot racks or garlands are discussed in: Longridge, C. Nepean.
The Anatomy of Nelson's Ships. (Annapolis MD:
Naval Institute Press, 1981): 64. A top view of shot garlands on the upper
deck of a ship-of-the-line is depicted in The Visual Dictionary of Ships
and Sailing. New York: Dorling Kindersley, 1991):
17.

"Brass monkey" is also the nickname for the Cunard Line's house flag which
depicts a gold lion rampant on a red field. [Source: Rogers, John. Origins
of Sea Terms. (Mystic CT: Mystic Seaport
Museum, 1984): 23.]