BATTLESHIP TEXAS BB35

ANIMAL MASCOTS

1914 - late 1930's

During World War II, no animal mascots were aboard. This was the response from 30 BB35 veterans to a 1986 questionnaire from Junior Historians, at Johnston Middle School, in Houston

Ursa the Bear Cub

While in Galveston, 6 - 14 November 1914, BB35 received her first animal mascot. Texaco presented Ursa, a West Texas brown bear cub, on 9 November. Do not know how long the cub remained aboard.

Ursa was the name of a Texaco lubricant that was used aboard BB35 and is still made today. Texaco is an abbreviation for "The Texas Company".

The photo came from the 2ND quarter of 1915 publication of the "TEXACO STAR".

Next came the pair of Buster and Queenie, Boston Bull Terriers. As you can see, they started a family aboard BB35. Best estimate of their coming aboard is 1915. When Queenie left is unknown. Buster was listed as a deserter, in Jan 1917, when TEXAS sailed from New York City to Puerto Rico. Two photos are courtesy of Ed Williams

Dec 1918- bull terrier named Jim. 4 Dec 1918, TEXAS arrived in Portland, England. During the brief stay in Portland, Jim's 6-year-old English owner, Mr. Lloyd Adams, gave him to the ship. His Uncle Randolph, a Captain in the Veterinary Corps, brought Jim home from Flanders. Mr. Adams provided the photo, in 1999. Jim had complete run of the ship and was a frequent attendee at ship functions. Jim was aboard at least through July 1923. A large oil painting of Jim was presented to BB35, from British Admiral Beatty. (Today, the painting is in the BB35 Ward Room). Click here for an June 1957 article about Jim, in "The American Mercury". The article was written by Paul Schubert, a TEXAS officer from July 1919 to July 1923.

Chaplain OW Behrens

Do not forget Paddy the Goat. Unfortunately, I do not have any information about Paddy. From the small amount of ship' structure in the images best estimate on date is before the 1925-1926 modernization.

Photos are courtesy of Ed Williams. Click on thumbnails for full image

Tessie the Cat and Pittsburg the Dog

The ship's weekly newspaper "The TEXAS Steer" of the early 1930s has several references to mascots.

Tessie: The 4 April 1931 issue (in San Diego, California) reports the ship's cat Tessie gave birth to three kittens. Tessie chose the seclusion of being underneath the safe where confidential publications are stored. Tessie was acquired, in the fall of 1930, while the ship was in New York. As of the printing, two kittens were adopted. One of the adopters was the Junior Officer's Mess.
Pittsburg: The 4 April 1931 article about Tessie mentioned the Aviation Department had a dog named Pittsburgh. To keep the dog's attention focused away from Tessie, he was regularly supplied with tennis balls.

In 1931, while in San Pedro (port for Los Angeles), a little white dog was acquired from the city dog pound and named Maggie. Like Jim, Maggie was a regular attendee of ship functions. The 12 December 1931 weekly printing of the BB35 newspaper "TEXAS Steer", reported Maggie (who was pregnant) chose the Brig to give birth. Two crewmembers confined to the Brig were assigned to be Maggie's hospital orderlies. The story of Maggie rated more words then all other stories. I need to see if I can locate what happened next. Click here for the Maggie article in "The TEXAS Steer".

Tom Scott captured the image from a digital coversion he made of 45minutes of film footage shot aboard TEXAS, in Dec 1931

Photo right is from a TEXAS cruise book, of the mid 1930s. No information accompanies the photo but the image is wonderful. Though hard to see in the thumbnail, there is a small black kitten next to the dog.

The photo is courtesy of Jack Platt, a long time TEXAS volunteer. Click on image for full size