CFB Esquimalt Naval & Military Museum
Sailors love souvenirs from foreign parts, usually trinkets and keepsakes for family and friends.
But when the crew of HMCS Thiepval returned to Esquimalt in 1924, they brought with them a living reminder of their travels, a higuma (brown bear) from the northern island of Hokkaido, Japan.
The bear was acquired in Hakodate, the port where Thiepval and her crew sojourned for two months on their way home to Esquimalt. Those months represented the last leg of a precarious journey filled with setbacks, a journey that took Thiepval 10,000 miles in search of old-fashioned adventure.
In her role as support vessel to a round-the-world flight attempt by Major Stuart MacLaren, she battled rough seas and weather, and desperate shortages of fuel, food, and water. So the stopover in Hakodate came as a welcome rest for the little grey minesweeper's beleaguered crew. When Thiepval dropped anchor in Hakodate harbour, there wasn't a drop of fresh water aboard, and only enough coal in the bunkers for another hour of steam-powered travel, at best.
While they waited out delays in MacLaren's flight, the crew re-fuelled, repaired and re-stocked the ship. In their spare time, they played football with their Japanese hosts, enjoyed the countryside, and befriended the bear, named "Bruno" (another nickname that later stuck to the well-travelled bear was "Haca-Daddy", a version of Hakodate). The small bear was already semi-tame, and the men grew so attached to it that they decided to adopt the animal, which is how a higuma from Hokkaido came to be at Naden.
Life in Esquimalt can't have brought much happiness to Bruno. To modern ears, the sailors' treatment of the bear sounds inhumane. They gave it gin, for which it developed a taste, so much so that it became part of wardroom routine to serve Bruno a daily tot when the bugle call sounded for 'Up Spirits'.
Failure to provide the expected ration of gin would result in a very cranky bear appearing at the Quartermaster's office. Drinking did nothing to improve Bruno's temper - the bear spent much of the day hung-over and grumpy.
These antics were a source of amusement for the men stationed at Naden, who built a tree house near the parade square to house it. Sometimes members of the ship's company took the bear, on a chain, out drinking with them to the local taverns. Thus escorted, the sailors never had trouble finding a seat or getting service, even in the busiest drinking spot.
The Naden bear reportedly came to a sad end. Bruno ate a combination of caustic soda and soap, and died, to be mourned by the crew of HMCS Thiepval.
