When our ship was in port and alongside a pier the Admiral of our flotilla chose to board his two husky puppies in a kennel on our aft gun deck. I never saw the puppies; they were said to be charming, little, identical dogs that the admiral had acquired and was taking stateside with him. The second night they were on our ship they both disappeared and, you can imagine, our captain was beside himself. The story circulating around the ship was that Sammy Draper, yeoman second class, somewhat inebriated, released them and that they had either fallen overboard or that Draper and company had taken them ashore and they had gotten lost.

No matter what happened, our Captain wanted those husky puppies back. The captain ordered Paymaster Day to get to the bottom of the affair since Sammy Draper reported to him. Day didn’t have a witness to work with except Sammy Draper himself, who proved to be quite uncooperative.

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