Sheep were deck passengers round Cape Horn

Press, 19 December 1985, Page 42

Sheep were deck passengers round Cape Horn

By

JOHN LESLIE

As an animal lover, one is interested in the projected livestock export from Timaru aboard the Merino Express. As a New Zealander, I am also a realist, and appreciate that we must diversify to survive in a hard world which does not owe us a living. One also appreciates the anxiety of those who fear this method of export may affect their livelihood. The standard of livestock sea carriage today is, compared with yesterday, like comparing a luxury hotel with a shanty. Shipboard accommodation for livestock today is only slightly inferior to what some of us experienced at sea half a century ago. Like the animals, we received no wages. At Lyttelton over the last 25 years, anyone who has bothered to look would have seen a vast improvement in livestock facilities aboard ship. New Zealand helped to build up the Uruguayan and Argentinian livestock industry on the Rio de la Plata. In my youth, we regularly took sheep as “deck passengers” round Cape Hom, in mid-winter sometimes, to these markets. Of course, the sheep were all well cared for. None were washed overboard. Special attendants, New Zealanders

from memory, were aboard. Sailors have a great feeling for animals. I never saw an animal unkindly treated aboard ship. Nor do I recall a sheep dying on passage, but it must have happened. They arrived at their River Plate destinations in good shape. In Montevideo (Uruguay) we landed our sheep in good condition. Another port of call for this sheep export trade was Punta Arenas, on the Strait of Magellan. Sometimes we carried sheep and other livestock to Panama, where the animals were landed for transhipment to the River Plate area.

Sometimes we had crude deck housing or stalls, sometimes only pens, but animals were always well cared for. Naturally, animals can become terrified at sea — just like human passengers. In the Northumberland (11,500 tons gross), from where some of my limited experience of livestock carriage was drawn, a former associate who later served in this vessel on a Cape Horn voyage told me that she carried, during his service, 200 sheep on deck for Montevideo. In stormy weather every sheep had to be carefully handled through the crew’s quarters and placed in the forecastle space. He does not recall

any sheep fatalities. Again, as an animal lover, I have been mortified on occasion to look down the holds of a Chathams trader at Lyttelton after a rough voyage, and smell the overwhelming stench of ammonia from stale urine and soggy straw, and to see an occasional carcase — perhaps a merciful release. The Chathams trade has always been a rugged one for seamen and beasts, but nobody ever found a solution to make the animals’ lot better.

Long voyages in deck stalls never seem to hurt horses. But horses seem to show fear quicker than other animals. I recall that aboard the steamer Tongariro in the Indian Ocean many years ago a horse kicked the outboard side of its stall in, during a storm. A young seaman with farm experience calmed the terrified animal and all was well.

In the earlier inter-island steamer express service animals were • mostly carried below. I recall a cow calving aboard the old Rangatira just after leaving Wellington. No freight for the newborn was charged at Lyttelton. Racehorses were treated with great favour and care. Nevertheless, I recall some concern when a valuable racehorse in the Maori’s after hold, arrived

at Wellington, after a rough voyage, with a badly bruised rump, as a result of chafing against the stall. There was trouble about that

Even in those days every care was taken of animals at sea. I recall once reading in Singapore of the arrival of the Dutch vessel Maetsuycker from Fremantle with a big consignment of sheep under the command of a Captain Zuiderhout. Not one animal was lost. This was a real achievement In fact, it was headlined in the “Straits Times.”

The carriage of animals from New Zealand to Australia, in older Union Company vessels, often on deck, and even on coastal voyages, was rugged. Neither animals nor crew enjoyed the south-west, Tasman run. The Union Company’s hardy but relatively small steamer Waitaki (2212 tons gross) took many a salty thrashing — and the animals were normally carried on deck according to a seafaring colleague of mine. They mostly survived, having been looked after with great care. The present live-sheep issue is over the shipment in

the Merino Express. She was built in Germany in 1960. A single-screw motor vessel, originally named Kreon, she later became the Caribbean Express, and later still her name was changed to Cap Farina. In 1976, she had an overhaul and was altered to fit her out for the carriage of livestock.

At 2350 tons gross, the Merino Express, originally a refrigerated and general cargo vessel, is not large but quite suitable. Registered in Manila, her owner is Vroon Shipping (Liberia), Ltd. Liberian registry indicates a “flag of convenience,” so common today. Those who man these liveanimal ships are experts in their field. The experience, facilities, hygiene, speed of travel, ventilation and so on are all vastly improved from past years. One assumes inspections are rigid. I do not consider, after all these years, that our “deck passengers” — whether voyaging round Cape Horn or anywhere else, were cruelly treated.

Perhaps we can wait and see what the Merino Express is like before criticising her.