Adventures of a Gunroom Monkey — Brian Smith

Two midshipmen are on shore leave in Colombo in Ceylon. When they see a monkey in a shop they decide to buy it. Thus begins the proud service of a monkey on board the British corvette Bullfrog. With the help of the monkey - not to mention a dog and some other animals on board - the Royal Navy takes on pirates and perils galore.The humorous and exciting adventures of a gunroom monkey and his friend the dog have been popular with several generations of readers since they were first published in 1894 and continue to enchant young and old to this day.Arthur Lee Knight (1852 - 7 Jul 1944) was a popular author of adventure books in the late 19th and early 20th century. Around 1868 he joined the Royal Navy at the age of sixteen as a junior midshipman, where he served on the 51-gun screw frigate HMS Forte.Having been a midshipman in the navy he was familiar with life in the navy and many of the episodes in his novels - such as hunting Arab slave traders - are clearly events he experienced himself and give unique insight into the world and people in the Victorian age. His readable and often racy stories are characterized by authentic navy language of the time and evocative descriptions of seascapes, distant countries and unusual people.