Gulf Coast breeze. [volume] (Crawfordville, Fla.) 1897-19??, 1898-03-11
A MENAGERIE AT SEA.
SUCH A CARGO AS WAS CARRIED
BY NoAH'S ARK.

How Darnum's Animals Were Transporte,
tn Enginndr-Entire Vessel Given Up I,
Them-A Giraffe Breaks Its Neck III
Houte-Food For the Four-Footed
Probably no more extraordinar,
cargo ever found its way into tn,
Thames than that which occupied
every inch of space on the ship Mas
sachusetts as she felt her way through
the dense fog to Gravesend recently.
ms vessel had been chartered by the
hrm running what is christened the
greatest show on earth, to bring the
component parts OF that truthful,
moral and instructive" entertainment
from its home in the United States to
this country. r. 7. Barnum, the ac-
knowledged prince of showmeD. is
dead, but those who have followed him
have lost none Of the departed show
mans love Of big things.
The Massachusetts, is a vessel of
5000 tons measurement, but the ac-
commodation afforded proved insult.
hcient and nocessitated her decks be.
ing well-nigh rendered impossible by
the quantities of baggage and impedi.
ments lashed to them on every side.
When she left New York there were
ON board twenty.six elephants.
37S horses, twenty-six ponies.
thirty cages Of wild beasts, fifty
led animals of various kinds and 2l2
passengers. The voyage was, however,
not free from mishaps, and on arrival
the number OF passengers was dimin-
lshed by two, while four horses and
two monkeys had also joined the ma
lority. The tragedy which appeared
to evoke the greatest regret on the
part OF the ships company was the
loss OF Daisy, one of the three giraffes
known to he in captivity. This sad
event was due to the animal breaking
her neck. One would think that the
neck OF giraffe would take n deal of
breaking, but this one accomplished
the feat without assistance, being found
dead in her stall one morning.
A tour of the Massachusetts, tween
decks involved all but an acrobatic
'eat. The whole ship was lined with
lows of animals, aud il was necessary
% squeeze down the narrow alleys be.
ween them and literally rub noses
With them, in order to inspect the mis-.
'ellaneous cargo. The fiercer animals.
including a gigantic hippopotamus.
wo very fine Polar bears, several
ions and tigers, IN assortment of
nonkeys, sea lions, seals, ETC., were
n huge cages; but the elephants,
amels, goats, buffaloes and horses {
'ere simply tethered one next to the
Their, as in stable, and the effect on
he visitor was grotesque in tho OK.
rene.
Among the most notable passen-
ers to be seen were the two huge ele-
hants, Fritz, who weighs 1850 !
ounds, being $50 pounds moro than !,
jumbo, of kindly memory, aud Man :
arin, who achieved the distinction of
llling his keeper while in England c
'me years ago. The most noted ami.
al, now that the giraffe has found q
atery grave. is Johanna, spoken of
gorilla, but actuallya chimpanzec, :,
fine grown specimen of her race. u
his lady is very human in her ways.
I'D eats with knife and fork, smokes CT
Id INDUCES in all the Injuries of
vilization. She suffered good deal W
lring the first few days of the CO
yage, but soon pulled round and
w appears to be very fit indeed. II ii
interesting to note that Johanna l.
pit her spirits up during her trip
ross the ocean by dint of consuming ,h
o cases of port wine, $50 eggs and -
o strings of bananas.
The catering necessary for so extern
e a collection OF animals is naturally -,
ry complicated and the quantities vi
lpped appear abnormal. Among
her comestibles taken on board at Ia
ring were 100 tons of hay, 81, 900 tn
shells of oats, five tons of bran, 200
unds of beef, two tons of carrots. ST
Do cabbages and 100 pounds Of fish -
the bears and seals. No less than
tons of straw were used for litter IN,
ring the voyage. London letter TO 20
4. Il 4