AROUND THE WORLD.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 33, 8 February 1930, Page 4

AROUND THE WORLD.

GOSSIP OF THE PORTS. FLOATING ZOOS. (By LEE FORE BRACE.) It is a peculiar fact that, while som< Tery comprehensive, and very useful volumes on the shipboard handling ant stowage of cargo are quite exhaustive ii their treatment of almost all types o merchandise in every trade, feiv, if any deal at all usefully with the oldest an. most difficult of all overseas consignment! —animals, wild and woolly, denizens o the open spaces, lords of the jungle anc swamp as distinct from nedigree bulls and quadrupeds, of hearth and home. Although that well-known sea term "Bung up and bilge free," is not -a phras( of any great antiquity, the art of stowag* was very successfully practised when old world was yet in its infancy Boali£ epic voyage and the masterly hand h( displayed in stowing what must have beer the most troublesome cargo that evei ventured over the face of the deep waters As it was tallied in, so was it delivered all in good order and condition, and cor rect even to a couple of white mice: Noah was, indeed, the father of all ship masters. ' It is true that he built his ship witl: a view to the nature of the cargo and sc was able to anticipate and allow for manj special necessities, yet a sailorman woulc like to know what Shem had to saj about it when he tallied in two outsizes in prehistoric elephants, and at the same time kept a wary eye on a couple oi sable-toothed tigers next in the line. N't doubt there were days when Noah anc his shipmates sighed for the peace anc quiet of a habitation a little less zoo logical. Right down through the ages ships anc' sailors have been needed for the saf< conduct of globe-trotting zoological sped mens and, as in other tasks, they ac quitted themselves with credit. A Unique Cargo. To New Zealanders, perhaps the mosi unique living cargo that was ever carried to these shores on shipboard was that oi the ship Timaru. On New Year's Day 1875, she left Greenock, a seaport on the Clyde, with 200,000 trout and salmon ova, 80 pheasants, 16 red deer and ten brace oi grouse. The trout salmon ova was a gift from various sporting societies in Scotland to the people of New Zealand. It was the Timaru's maiden voyage, and considerable interest was taken in hei extraordinary freight. Every precaution was taken to make the venture a successful one. The Timaru's master, Captain Rankin, was instructed to drive the ship along for all he was worth, but illluck, in the shape of head winds and calms, made the voyage a lengthy one, 105 days being taken to reach Bluff] Aboard the Timaru a gigantic ice-bos was constructed to contain the ova. Over 60 tons of ice was packed in it, and the ova, packed in small cases, was embedded in the ice. It was known that salmon and trout eggs could be kept without injury for several months so long as they were kept at a low temperature; therefore, it was a case of the ice lasting through the tropics that would make for success. Many people considered the venture a mad one, _ and several piscatorial experts doomed it to failure before it started. It must be remembered that refrigerating machinery had not then been and the voyage to be made was, in distance, the longest one in the world. No ship's arrival in New Zealand was looked forward to with keener anticipation than the Timaru's.. Everyone was discussing the event with great excitement. The experts stated that it would be a simple'matter to land..the live stock in good condition, but it was more" of a joke than a business to transport fish eggs over 18,000 miles and expect success to result. The Timaru was a very smart ship. She once made the voyage from land to land in 72 days, and as her owners built her for speed, she was chosen as the best ship to try out the experiment. Ova Survive, but Live Stock Die. Her late arrival caused the optimists to have little argument against the pessimists, as time was the deciding factor. When the vessel made her signal to the Bluff pilot station, a boat was hurried off to her to land the ova if there was any left. The ice-box was opened and pthe ova dispatched with all care and speed to the hatcheries at Invercargill. There they were opened, and great was the delight when it was found that the ova was in perfect condition, and we are told by those interested in the great venture that over 80 per cent hatched out and were subsequently liberated in the streams of Southland and Otago. It is also interesting to note that all the. live stock, pheasants, deer and grouse died on the voyage, and thus the experts were lipset in their calculations. . It is difficult for the landsman to appreciate the care, attention and anxiety that is given and caused when there is a shipment of livestock aboard a vessel. It is also surprising how tame animals become, even the wildest among them, aboard ship. Animals are always carried on deck, and if the ship she>uld_ happen to experience heavy-weather, their comfort, even to the slowing down of the ship, is always looked alter. Greed, Grab and Granite. Some 30 odd_ years _ ago the writer was an. apprentice in a big sailing ship visiting Australia. With the other bad bargains of the half-deck, he was invited out to spend a week at a station in Gippsland, where we were each presented with a young kangaroo. Packing cases were constructed and the Joeys were safely brought back to the ship. This is no place to tell what the skipper said when he saw our. prizes tied to the ends of the spare spars. It happened that just at that time the mate and he were at loggerheads, and as the former had given us exactly two minutes to get rid "of the flaming menagerie," the "old man," just to be contrary, perhaps, and to show , the d tliat he was captain of his ship, told the mate to mind his own business and allow us to keep them. Now, six kangaroos is no small order, and as W i S a un S r y Clyde Cape-Horner, the difficulty was to get sufficient fodder on which to feed them. There was a coal strike on in New South Wales, and before departing for San Francisco in ballast we were successful in purloining several bales Aii wl 1 ' Som nearby trucks. Although the rations were meagre, the hay, supplemented with a more or less t n allowance of ship biscuits,, and at S-.lt f ack of pea soup, caused the f w , I i gIW apace - In a few weeks Mould answer their names when called, and they were spoiled with kindness, even from the mate, by everyone aboard. At times their owners got into serious trouble when it was found that ropes were _ being nibbled to pieces clurtL watches, but this was the hMd t tlie kari garoos into the hold at night time. They survived the voyage up the Pacific, and consternation was caused in the half-deck when it J™, that, the California!! Custom authorities required that they should be placed m quarantine until the departure the ship. Our skipper solved the quandary by selling our pets to the local zoological gardens, getting 30 dollars each 'r d h< e bein e an Aberdeen with greed, grab and granite as i;i his motto in life, handed us a dollar each as payment for our much-beloved kangaroos