| BIOGRAPHICAL DETAILS: |
Captain Nathaniel Churchmouse is Mickey Mouse's sailor friend, and Spooks (Bombo) is Captain Churchmouse's pet gorilla. Captain Churchmouse and Spooks both first appear in "Mickey Mouse Sails for Treasure Island" (1932), a tale which due to many of its negative portrayals of Blacks, and its use of violence and allusions to expletives may never see reprint in the USA. Because very few people will ever see this tale recounted here is a summary of of events: In this story Capt. Churchmouse's tragic past is introduced to Mickey when he is contacted by the Widow Churchmouse, Nathaniel's wife who believed her husband to be deceased. Before he disappeared Nathaniel had given his wife two maps to buried treasure, along with the Captain's ship, the Pot Luck. She explained that Nathaniel set sail in 1917 and was lost at sea, and as Mickey later discovers, that the ship is believed to be haunted. His crew returned with his ship and gave her the bad news. She wishes for Mickey to find the treasure and give it to charity. Meanwhile Bad Pete and Sylvester Shyster have escaped from prison. Disguised as "Dill Gurkin" and "Slug Nichols" they are hired on to Mickey's crew for the treasure hunt, the rest of his crew is shanghaied by Shyster and Pete unbeknownst to Mickey. Once out at sea the shanghaied crew are told by Shyster and Pete that it was Mickey who knocked them out and kidnapped them, and convinced them to pretend to be loyal until they can steal the map and mutiny the ship. The haunting sounds coming from the cargo hold turn out to be from a Gorilla that has living there. Mickey nicknames the gorilla "Spooks" and refuses to allow the crew to harm. Meanwhile, Mickey discovers that Minnie Mouse has stowed away aboard the ship, and that the crew mutinies. Gurkin and Nichols reveal themselves to actually be Shyster & Pete and take one of the maps from Mickey. They set Mickey and Spooks adrift tied up and blindfolded in a lifeboat, and Shyster and Pete fight over possession of Minnie. After a storm Mickey and Spooks wash ashore on a island where Mickey is captured by cannibals. A loony old man calling himself "Shakespeare" (or "Mr. Bill") saves Mickey from becoming that night's entree (the cannibals believe "Shakespeare" to be the "Great White God"). The map that the mutinous pirate crew took from Mickey leads them to the very same island and Mickey, Shakespeare, Spooks and the cannibals rescue Minnie and capture the pirates. A blow to Shakespeare's head causes him to regain his memory and he reveals that Spooks is actually his long lost faithful companion "Bombo," and his own real name is in fact Captain Nathaniel Churchmouse (now having no memory of his 15 years as "Shakespeare," though even Churchmouse is continues calling Bombo "Spooks" by the end of the tale, as well as in future tales). He also knows Shyster and Pete as the same two who had led the mutiny before, which is why he'd spent the intervening time abandoned on an island. The buried treasure is unearthed, and Churchmouse intends to bring Shyster & Pete to justice for their crimes, the result of which is death by hanging. Mickey, not wanting to see them killed, frees Shyster & Pete to make their way among the many dangers of the island. Meanwhile, Horace Horsecollar and Clarabelle Cow, having lost radio contact with Mickey and Minnie, fearing for the young Mouses' safety, are now tending to the dying Widow Churchmouse. Finally breaking through Horace is able to relay the urgent message of the Widow's impending death, however, due to radio problems Mickey is unable to respond and inform Horace of the Captain's imminent return. Upon their return the good news quickly spreads and the widow...err, Mrs. Churchmouse's health is revived. Captain Churchmouse next appeared in "Mickey Mouse and The Sacred Jewel" when he hired Mickey to help him deliver the "Sacred Star of Zwoosh" to the Calif of Umbrellastan, and once more encountered Pete and Shyster. Next he appears "In Search of Jungle Treasure" (WDC&S #4), when Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, and the gorilla Spooks search for a buried treasure in the Jujubwa Jungle of Africa. They are threatened at first by Pete and Eli Squinch, and then by a tribe of cannibals. Capt. Churchmouse has appeared in several more Mickey Mouse tales through the years (i.e., MM #152, 160, 166, WDC&S #342 and 380 to list a few). Spooks was finally returned to his own tribe of gorillas in Oomba-loomba, a region within the Jujubwa Jungle in a tale which introduced Dangerous Dan McBoo and his little sidekick, Idgit in WDC&S #316. |
Captain Churchmouse & Spooks 