UPDATE: The Filipino Monkey
So… about a month ago, Frank posted a short article about an encounter the US Navy had with Iranian speedboats, and some radio pranksters who almost turned the situation into full-on military engagement. We got all our information for the story from US news sources and the Navy’s own press materials.
Turns out, they were full of shit. We probably shouldn’t be surprised.
A friend of ours, Abe Klein, spent the last few years workin’ the seven seas as a mariner. He got in touch to set us straight.
Inexplicably, you won’t find the true story in any other American media sources (except an obscure maritime blog, gCaptain) ; they’re all still reporting that the “Filipino Monkey” is a pseduonym for maritime radio hecklers operating in the Middle East — supposedly Iranians. In fact, there’s pretty much nothing true about that statement.
Follow the jump to learn the real deal.
FRANK151: So, you told us that the Filipino Monkey thing is, in fact, totally different than was reported. It’s not actually a single person, or even a group of people, as we were all told — is that right?
ABE: Yes.
FRANK151: Can you tell us where it really comes from?
ABE: The international shipping industry is an oddly backwater, and yet cosmopolitian, scene. They hire people from all over the world. So, a boat will have 10-plus different nationalities on it, no problem. In the 20th century, a larger plurality of the dudes on cargo ships were Greek. Maybe they were lazy, and sometimes they drank too much ozo, but they were willing to be at sea for months at a time and they had salt water in their blood. Greeks have been the world’s sailors for centuries, so they were the go-to mariners.
FRANK151: What does this have to do with the Filipino Monkey?
ABE: Be patient, I’m getting to that. In the 1970’s, it all started to change. English-speaking Filipinos started signing onto ships in droves. They would work for half the pay of the Greeks, and twice as hard. So long as you hired a Filipino cook for them, they put up with the worst working and living conditions possible, with no complaints and no unions. Basically, the Greeks felt like they were being displaced by a bunch of workaholic Asians, and responded in the most logical way they thought of: shouting random racist insults at the Filipinos, in places around the world where cargo ships stack up in holding patterns.
FRANK151: Such as?
ABE: San Francisco, L.A., NYC, the English Channel, the Straights of Tarifa… or the Straight of Hommus, where this all happened. When the ships get trapped — in traffic seperation schemes, or outside of a harbour waiting for a pilot — a bored Greek sailor sitting on the bridge by himself will pick up the radio and get on Channel 16, the international hailing frequency. He’ll start insulting any Filipinos who might be sitting on watch, over on another ship’s bridge. Stuff like, “Filipino monkey… Filipino monkey… you like banana?” It’ll go on for hours; sitting in a holding pattern is really, really boring. Finally, some Filipino sailor, fuming mad — good at English, but bad at insults — will nervously grab his radio and half-shout, half-whisper “Fuck you, Greek,” and then hang up.
FRANK151: Then what happens?
ABE: That’s it. The rest of us listening on Channel 16 have a good laugh, or turn the radio down. In the US, the Coast Guard might get on and threaten to fine anyone who misuses the hailing frequency, but nothing ever happens. And the whole thing repeats itself, all over the world. Any place there’s a lot of boat traffic.
FRANK151: So this is definitely not exclusive to Middle Eastern waters?
ABE: By no means. Worldwide.
FRANK151: And definitely not the work of a single individual, or a small group of pranksters?
ABE: No.
FRANK151: So, does it surprise you that the Navy would print the false version of this story? Shouldn’t they, of all people, have known better than that?
ABE: Yeah. They probably hear it on the radio a lot. I don’t know why nobody bothered to correct those inaccurate reports.
FRANK151: That seems weird, right? They way everyone just went along with the government’s version, blaming Iran?
ABE: Yeah, it does seem a little suspect.
FRANK151 encourages readers to draw their own conclusions.
We report … YOU decide!
