Once again Crystal Cruises has exceeded my expectations. I was having breakfast with a fellow traveler and commented that I have never met such wonderful people who know what you want even before you want it. This crew is the best. If you have never sailed with Crystal then you cannot begin to imagine the service and friendships you are missing!
We are docked in Port Elizabeth and I have decided to have a free day. I am treating myself to some wonderful spa services, looking forward to a great dinner with wonderful entertainment afterwards. The crew on this ship is really the very best.
I promised that I would tell you about Simon’s Town famous canine. I really enjoyed the history I learned from our guide Chris. One of the best stories he shared with me was about Just Nuisance.
Just Nuisance was the only dog ever to be officially enlisted in the Royal Navy. He was a Great Dane who from 1939-44 served at HMS Afrikander, a Royal Navy shore establishment in Simon's Town, South Africa. He died in 1944 and was buried with full military honors.
Although the exact date of Just Nuisance's birth is not known, it is usually stated that he was born on 1 April 1937 in Rondebosch, a suburb of Cape Town. He was sold to Benjamin Chaney who later moved to Simon's Town to run the United Services Institute (USI). Just Nuisance quickly became popular with the patrons of the institute, mostly the ratings who would feed him snacks and take him for walks. He began to follow them back to the naval base and dockyards, where he would lie on the decks of ships that were moored up in dock, normally at the top of the gangplanks. Since he was a large dog even for a Great Dane, he was almost 6.6 ft tall when standing on his hind legs, he presented a sizable obstacle for those trying to board or disembark and he became affectionately known as Nuisance.
Nuisance was allowed to roam freely and, following the sailors, he began to take day trips by train as far afield as Cape Town, 22 miles away. Despite the seamen's attempts to conceal him, the conductors would put him off the trains as soon as he was discovered. This did not cause him any problems, as he would wait for the next train or walk to another station where he would board the next train that came along. Amused travelers would occasionally offer to pay his fares, but the railway company eventually warned Chaney that Nuisance would have to be put down unless he was kept under control to prevent him boarding the trains or had his fares paid.
The news that Nuisance may be put down spurred many of the sailors and locals to write to the Navy pleading for something to be done. Although somebody offered to buy him a season ticket, the Navy instead decided to officially enlist him; as a member of the armed forces he would receive free rail travel, so the fare-dodging would no longer be a problem. It was a good idea: for the next years, he would be a morale booster for the troops serving in World War II.
He was enlisted on 25 August 1939: his surname was entered as "Nuisance" and rather than leaving the forename blank he was christened "Just". His trade was listed as "Bonecrusher" and his religious affiliation as "Scrounger", although it was later altered to the more charitable "Canine Divinity League (Anti-Vivisection)". To allow him to receive rations and because of his longstanding unofficial service he was promoted from Ordinary Seaman to Able Seaman. Like all new sailors, he underwent a medical examination that he duly passed and was declared fit for active duty. The proper enlistment forms were filled in and he signed them with a paw mark. Just Nuisance was now a bona-fide member of the Navy and, as such, he expected all the benefits that that brought - he started sleeping on sailors' beds - his long frame fully stretched out with his head comfortably placed on the pillow. One of the seamen was allocated to ensure that Just Nuisance was regularly washed and he often appeared at parades wearing his seaman's hat. Sailors being sailors there was the odd fight. Just Nuisance did not like his sailor friends to fight each other. If he came across a fight he would quickly put a stop to it by standing up on his hind legs and pushing his huge paws against their chests. After a short while he was promoted from 'Ordinary Seaman' to 'Able Seaman', which entitled him to naval rations! Just Nuisance was equally at home on any ship that called in at the port, and was loved by everybody who met him though his main interest was only with other ranks.
He never went to sea, but fulfilled a number of roles ashore. He continued to accompany sailors on train journeys and escorted them back to base when the pubs closed. While many of his functions were of his own choosing, he also appeared at many promotional events, including his own "wedding" to another Great Dane, Adinda. Adinda produced five pups as a result, two of which were auctioned off in Cape Town to raise funds for the war effort.
Nuisance's service record was not exemplary. Aside from the offenses of travelling on the trains without his free pass, being absent without leave, losing his collar and refusing to leave the pub at closing time, his record shows that he was sentenced to have all bones removed for seven days for sleeping in an improper place: one of the Petty Officer's beds. He also fought with the mascots of ships that put in at Simon's Town, resulting in the deaths of at least two of them.
Nuisance had been involved in a car accident which had caused thrombosis which was gradually paralyzing him, so on 1 January 1944 he was discharged from the Navy. His condition continued to deteriorate; on 1 April 1944 he was taken to Simon's Town Naval Hospital where on the advice of the naval veterinary surgeon, he was put to sleep. The next day he was taken to Klaver Camp, where his body was draped with a Royal Naval White Ensign and he was buried with full naval honours, including a gun salute and the playing of the Last Post. A simple granite headstone marks his grave which is on the top of the hill at the former signals centre. A statue was erected in Jubilee Square in Simon's Town to commemorate his life.
The Simon's Town Museum has a room dedicated to his story, and since 2000 there has been an annual parade of Great Danes from which a lookalike is selected
Tomorrow: At Sea.
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