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“Worse Things Happen at Sea.”
Please enjoy the following yarn from Captain Mike's
downloadable E-Book about the bumps and challenges he
faced in his 50 years in cargo and fridge ships, bulk carriers,
cruise and passenger ships...
Short Landed Elephant
I believe that this story is attributable to the British India S.N. Co. which, in addition to its famous passenger ships, operated a big fleet of cargo ships trading in the Far East, India, Africa and Australia. It is reported that some years ago one of their cargo ships loaded 20 trained elephants in Thailand. They faced a sea passage of several days to Borneo, for logging work in the forests, and plenty of fodder was laid in. Everyone prayed for a smooth passage - nobody was too excited about the idea of coping with seasick elephants – and indeed all went well. The crew earned heaps of overtime shovelling up tons of dung and hosing down both the cargo and the decks, and the officers were lulled to their slumbers by the sweet odour of jumbos massively breaking wind in the orlop decks. Before departure, the Bills of Lading and the Mate's receipts had been duly signed and stamped to the effect that 20 elephants had been received on board and would be discharged at destination. Destination was many miles up a jungle river, where the ship anchored and set about getting the jumbos off the ship and onto the shore. A vast pontoon barge was put alongside the ship, and the elephants were hoisted onto it with the ship's gear. Two at a time, they were towed to the river bank and offloaded to their new handlers. One particular female had quite enjoyed the trip, but was looking forward to setting her ample feet on dry land once more. On the pontoon, she raised her trunk, savouring, no doubt, the rich, steamy jungle scents, plopped quietly into the warm river (as elephants do), swam to the bank and disappeared into the foliage, never to be seen again. What to do? Search parties having failed to locate the runaway, there was nothing for it but to send to the receivers, (who were probably in an office block in London or Kuala Lumpur), copies of the Bills of Lading and Mate's receipts endorsed as follows: “19 elephants discharged, one elephant in dispute. If found on board, to be discharged.”
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