So I’m watching CNN and I do a double take after the reporter (in a completely straight face) says “The harassing radio communications that ignighted the Navy’s close call with Iranian gunboats may have instead been initiated by a locally known heckler known as ‘The Filipino Monkey‘ ”
WHAT?! First of all any seaman, military or commercial, can tell you their is no heckler know as the “Filipino Monkey“. Rather it’s a phrase that’s been uttered by thousands of mariners for decades. This harassing radio call with racial origins is made over the radio when a sailor hears the distinct accent of a Filipino mariner on the VHF radio. Why is it said? Mostly out of boredom but also for the simple reason that it is sure to get a heated response.
It also happens to be the bane of every Watch Officer’s existence; a joke that is no longer funny but refuses to die. Tim’s Times gave us the details behind this heckle back in September:
The two tone alarm has gone again and this time it’s a pan pan from La Coruna Radio, other side of the Bay of Biscay. You wouldn’t mind so much if it was just the official users of VHF and MF radio that you had to contend with, but oh no there is every manner of animal sound, and jungle noise on the VHF from people who should not be on the radio, let alone a ship. One moron was calling out, “Gorilla from Manila, and Filipino monkey” my watchman who is from Manila laughed and said that it is often Indian’s who call this out to provoke a response from Filipinos, who say “Indian I can’t see you but I can smell you”. So childish and these guys are in charge of ships, frightening, and these days it is all being recorded, so you must be dealing with stupidity, says a lot for the profession….
Indeed, the voice in the audio sounds different from the one belonging to an Iranian officer shown speaking to the cruiser Port Royal over a radio from a small open boat in the video released by Iranian authorities. He is shown in a radio exchange at one point asking the U.S. warship to change from the common bridge-to-bridge channel 16 to another channel, perhaps to speak to the Navy without being interrupted…
“For 25 years there’s been this mythical guy out there who, hour after hour, shouts obscenities and threats,” he said. “He could be tied up pierside somewhere or he could be on the bridge of a merchant ship.”
And the Monkey has stamina.
“He used to go all night long. The guy is crazy,” he said. “But who knows how many Filipino Monkeys there are? Could it have been a spurious transmission? Absolutely.”
Initially I was shocked that a Navy ship, or any ship, could not have known the taunt was a joke. This is seamanship 101. I clearly remember having the taunt whispered in my ear by an upperclassmen during my plebe year that the Naval Academy and by the time I received my officers license I had heard it hundreds of time. How could the officers of the cruiser Port Royal not know this was a common joke? I’m admitting still confused but after hearing the audio file I must say it doesn’t sound like the typical ‘Filipino Monkey’ taunt.
I’ll give the last comment to the cruise ship captain quoted by the Navy Times since it’s both accurate and contains good advice to mariners:
“It was just a gut feeling, something the merchants did. Guys would get bored, one guy hears it, comes back a year later and does it for himself,”
The former skipper noted that he warned his crew about hecklers when preparing to transit Hormuz. “I tell them they’ll hear things on there that will be insulting,” he said. “You tell your people that you’ll hear things that are strange, insulting, aggravating, but you need to maintain a professional posture.”
A civilian mariner with experience in that region said the Filipino Monkey phenomenon is worldwide, and has been going on for years.
“They come on and say ‘Filipino Monkey’ in a strange voice. They might say it two or three times. You’re standing watch on bridge and you’re monitoring Channel 16 and all of a sudden it comes over the radio. It can happen anytime. It’s been a joke out there for years.”
While it happens all over the world, it’s more likely to occur around the Strait of Hormuz because there is so much shipping traffic, he said.
You can watch the Iranian video at EagleSpeak.
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14 responses so far ↓
1 Capt. Mike // Jan 13, 2008 at 7:40 pm
I want to jump through the radio and strangle the person EVERY time I hear this…. which is almost daily.
This is also yet another reason I sigh relief once we get out to sea.
2 Bob Couttie // Jan 13, 2008 at 7:55 pm
The term ‘monkey’ is considered exceedingly derogatory by Filipinos. The line from an old American song: “The monkeys have no tails in Zamboanga is often trotted out as an example of a racial slur (Wrongly as it happens). I know of a bookstore clerk who nearly got punched after, quite innocently, referring to a mischievous Filipino child as ‘a little Monkey’.
I have no doubt this tale will be picked up by the press here and blown out of proportions.
Yes, Filipinos are oversensitive, I’ll admit that, but this sort of bilge goes beyond the pale.
Bob
3 John // Jan 13, 2008 at 8:57 pm
Bob, you’re right and in their defense they are some of the most competent mariners I’ve worked with yet for various reasons (mostly fear of them taking a mariner’s job) they catch a lot of BS. So I understand where they are coming from with sensitive issues.
Actually it was not easy for me to even write the term and I cringe at how it’s being thrown around the American press right now. I’d love to get a Filipino mariner to submit a comment here and, if they do, I’ll be sure to send it to primary news bloggers.
4 CMJeff // Jan 13, 2008 at 9:00 pm
I think the operative word here is BOREDOM… the life of a mariner is rarely as exciting as it sounds.
5 Dennis // Jan 14, 2008 at 3:17 am
I can’t believe you’ve been writting a maritime blog this long and this is the first you wrote about ti.
6 delusionofgrandeur » Hormuz Straight Confrontation may have been Radio Troll // Jan 14, 2008 at 6:32 am
[…] there is a phenomenon on marine monitored VHF frequencies known as the “Filipino Monkey” which quite literally refers to a ‘Troll’ who transmits on the monitored marine channel […]
7 Shii // Jan 14, 2008 at 6:21 pm
It seems that you and your fellow mariners have a far better understanding of this than the folks higher up in the chain of command. They fed the AP the exact same story about a single prolific monkey in 1988.
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1316/is_n2_v20/ai_6424715/pg_3
8 Shii // Jan 14, 2008 at 6:26 pm
Here’s another example
http://editor-at-large.blogspot.com/2008/01/filipino-monkey-is-back.html
9 Manuel L. Quezon III: The Daily Dose » Blog Archive » A real howler // Jan 14, 2008 at 8:03 pm
[…] The Filipino Monkey Strikes Again (and again and again…), gCaptain.com gives the lowdown on what is, apparently, one of the occupational hazards for […]
10 Thalassa // Jan 14, 2008 at 11:16 pm
Hello Captain,
I wrote up a post in my blog about hearing this while sailing in the Aegean, so this is definitely not restricted to the Straits of Hormuz.
During my sailing trip (which lasted 9 days), I’m sure it was just one guy who harassed mostly Indian and Pakistani mariners over and over again whenever he could heard any of them in conversation on Channel 16.
I had no idea it was such a common prank.
11 Marlon // Jan 22, 2008 at 6:55 am
“Bob, you’re right and in their defense they are some of the most competent mariners I’ve worked with yet for various reasons (mostly fear of them taking a mariner’s job) they catch a lot of BS. So I understand where they are coming from with sensitive issues.
Actually it was not easy for me to even write the term and I cringe at how it’s being thrown around the American press right now. I’d love to get a Filipino mariner to submit a comment here and, if they do, I’ll be sure to send it to primary news bloggers.”
I’m Filipino, though not a mariner. Thanks John.
12 John // Jan 22, 2008 at 7:12 pm
Marlon,
A mariner “at heart” maybe?
13 pinoy maritime // May 31, 2008 at 12:27 pm
I’ve heard it in a lot of places, in the Mediterranean sea, Gibraltar strait, Adriatic sea, and a lot more. It is really unethical to reply to this prank voices on the vhf. But who can tell who they are. They can only advise or ask them to stop this nonsense in the vhf, but does anyone really got apprehended? If there was a circular news that somebody got apprehended and was imposed of fines regarding this on all fleets of ship. Maybe it will be stopped. I experienced one time approaching gibraltar strait on the 4 to 8 watch, this people start talking in the vhf, I cannot even hear the VTS information because of it. I’ve been on active seafaring and believe me, I’ve seen changes on human behavior whenever they’ve work onboard more than a year. Its not a Filipino all the time that started it, I’ve witnessed a Greek Captain who started this nonsense prank word and everyship in the area start to reply. Who gets to blame on this, I don’t really know. It becomes a seawide word together with “mario”, “Indian bad smell” and a lot of modifications. With the new sets of rules, paperworks, maritime security, and less time on berth. Liberty to even step on land is limited. Maybe some seafarers find it a way to reduce the pressure and boredom onboard. But its not a very good excuse. But I could say that the new generation of seaman now are more aware of what professionalism is. But out there on the sea who knows. Its a vast space and only a few people can appreciate what kind of life we are living out there. But honestly on my own opinion, this has got to be stopped.
14 Kennebec Captain // Jun 1, 2008 at 3:13 pm
I’ve heard pranksters tell tankers that the pilot is waiting to board at the pilot station. If they have been on the VHF for the last 2 hrs with the usual nonsense you sometimes recognize their voices.
Marine VHF radios need to have some kind of caller ID built in.
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