No. 317 - Monkey Jacket

While reading Moby-Dick this morning I came across the following passage in Chapter 3:

I sat down on the side of the bed, and commenced thinking about this head-peddling harpooneer, and his door mat. After thinking some time on the bed-side, I got up and took off my monkey jacket, and then stood in the middle of the room thinking.

Later I read the following in Chapter 4:

The rest of his toilet was soon achieved, and he proudly marched out of the room, wrapped up in his great pilot monkey jacket, and sporting his harpoon like a marshal's baron.

I wondered what this monkey jacket was about?

It seems that it is a short, tight-fitting jacket, traditionally worn by sailors. It gets its origin from the resemblance to coats worn by trained monkeys, especially organ grinder's monkeys.