A *monkey* was also the name given to a wooden barrel, used to store gunpowder, or ale etc.
Stan Hugill mentions on tape that when Nelson died, instead of burying him at sea, they put his body in a cask of brandy, and also that sailors would frequently rob the casks of liqour by boring a hole in them and sucking out the contents. Formally known as *sucking the monkey* this process came to be known as *bleeding the admiral*. At least the brandy now had *body*.