Hello and thanks for letting me join.

[Gareth Linnard]

A good bit of research would be going back a couple of centuries before the 20s Gareth, of livestock transported by ship to the new world , a horror story of how the horse latitudes got their name. and Des Taff is so right about the present trade , a further disgrace was the RSPCA being an investor in this nasty trade from WA,
good luck with your research
bob byron

Cheers Bob, I've heard of the horse latitudes, isn't that where the sailing ships used to find themsrlves becalmed, and the horses were either eaten or wrnt over the side? It is veey interesting. Thing is though my research isn't about sea transport of live animals, it's of the thylacine, some of whom happened to be transported by sea.

[Robert Byron]

I understand Gareth , sorry i got mixed up with the base of your thread, and i guess that was the only way by sea that thylacine made it to mainland Australia as well as elsewhere

[Keith at Tregenna]

Possibly of interest ?

Keith.

Ronald C. Gunn (1850), in a letter to the Zoological Society in London, detailed his arrangements for the transit of London Zoo's first thylacines. Gunn's letter, dated 29th December 1849, states:

The Thylacine Museum - The Thylacine in Captivity: Zoos, Circuses and Menageries: Internationally (page 1)

Owing to the shipping strike, the two voyagers were six months aboard ship. One of them died, but the survivor is in fine condition, and, being the only specimen of its kind in a European menagerie, and the last, it is
said, to be allowed to be exported alive, it is not likely to suffer from a lack of attention".

The surviving female was resident at the London Zoo from 26th January 1926 until her death on the 9th August 1931. She was housed in the North Mammal House, which can be seen in an enlargement of the London Zoo map from 1930. The North Mammal House is noted as No. 62 on the map above. (Link above).


Dead on arrival

We visited the London Zoo Archives to find out more about the thylacines displayed there over the 19th and early-20th centuries. The London Zoo was the place to which the first and last recorded Tasmanian tigers were exported — the former in 1850 and the latter, purchased for the princely sum of 150 pounds, in 1926.

The long sea journey was harsh, and many of the thylacines shipped from Van Diemen's land were simply declared "dead on arrival". One animal died just eight days after arriving in 1888. In the hope of offspring, many thylacines were shipped in breeding pairs. Yet these hopeful reproductive futures were often foreclosed when one of them died in transit, as was the case of the final shipment in 1926.

The hunt for London's thylacines shows a greater truth about Australian extinction - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

.

[Gareth Linnard]

Possibly of interest ?

Keith.

Ronald C. Gunn (1850), in a letter to the Zoological Society in London, detailed his arrangements for the transit of London Zoo's first thylacines. Gunn's letter, dated 29th December 1849, states:

The Thylacine Museum - The Thylacine in Captivity: Zoos, Circuses and Menageries: Internationally (page 1)

Owing to the shipping strike, the two voyagers were six months aboard ship. One of them died, but the survivor is in fine condition, and, being the only specimen of its kind in a European menagerie, and the last, it is
said, to be allowed to be exported alive, it is not likely to suffer from a lack of attention".

The surviving female was resident at the London Zoo from 26th January 1926 until her death on the 9th August 1931. She was housed in the North Mammal House, which can be seen in an enlargement of the London Zoo map from 1930. The North Mammal House is noted as No. 62 on the map above. (Link above).


Dead on arrival

We visited the London Zoo Archives to find out more about the thylacines displayed there over the 19th and early-20th centuries. The London Zoo was the place to which the first and last recorded Tasmanian tigers were exported — the former in 1850 and the latter, purchased for the princely sum of 150 pounds, in 1926.

The long sea journey was harsh, and many of the thylacines shipped from Van Diemen's land were simply declared "dead on arrival". One animal died just eight days after arriving in 1888. In the hope of offspring, many thylacines were shipped in breeding pairs. Yet these hopeful reproductive futures were often foreclosed when one of them died in transit, as was the case of the final shipment in 1926.

The hunt for London's thylacines shows a greater truth about Australian extinction - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

.

Yes Keith that was a tremendous help. I know the Thylacine Museum very well, and had read that article recently, but until you posted that segment there the obvious thing I'dcompletely missed hadn't struck me. Thank you.

As I said earlier, there are four cubs, two different mothers. One mother captured by a Walter Mullins at Tyenna, with three young in June/July 1923, but one cub seems to have died. This group are well documnted, we've even got photos of the cubs. As a matter of fact I'm friends with Walter Mullins grandaughter. I can trace the two surviving cubs to the end of 1924 at Hobart, but no further. But, then I have a reference (and this is in relation to an order from London) to a second female with two cubs which the Hobart City Council was buying for the zoo. Now, nothing is known about these cubs, but the mother does appear in several photos. So as you see, I've got four cubs.

Thing is, and this Keith is why your post hasreally made the difference, they would probably/possibly have sent a potential breeding pair to London. A boy from one mother and a girl from the other. I know that probably seems obvious, but in my defence I can be really thick sometimes.

[Keith at Tregenna]

No worries, as I would have had no clue without your thread.

Learning myself and honestly I will gain more myself than you will from me.

Often in a thread we post much for others interested and for clues ourselves to assist others.

Pleased to have been of some help and intrigued.

Will add any more I find in case.

Regards Keith.

[Keith at Tregenna]

Well, it'd be my pleasure to share here what information comes out.

TASMANIAN "TIGER"
Arrival at London Zoo
ONLY SPECIMEN IN EUROPE
(Australian Press Association.)

28th Jan 1926.

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/67633681

[Keith at Tregenna]

Will add any more I find in case.

Regards Keith.

Historical thylacine (Tasmanian Tiger) film 6 - London Zoo, 1933

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwk3bodM4SU

[Keith at Tregenna]

Yes Keith that was a tremendous help.
Thing is, and this Keith is why your post hasreally made the difference, they would probably/possibly have sent a potential breeding pair to London. A boy from one mother and a girl from the other. I know that probably seems obvious, but in my defence I can be really thick sometimes.

Prob the last for tonight.

For many years, as with the ill-fated Tasmanian tiger (thylacine), devils have been sent to zoos and animals parks around Australia and overseas. In June 1906 a specimen of each was shipped off to London aboard Orient line’s mail ship, Omrah. However, before the vessel had even cleared Australian waters, the devil escaped from its cage. Crew and passengers joined forces to try and catch it, but it had vanished, last spotted on the upper deck. It was three weeks before it was found, hiding under some equipment and still on the upper deck. However, it seems the little fellow had been sneaking down to the stores or the kitchens at night. When it was recaptured it was quite a bit fatter than when it left Tasmania.

https://paulineconolly.com/2017/where-the-devil-is-it/

[Des Taff Jenkins]

Hi Gareth.
Like you I thought you were in Tassie. I was born in Garden Village, which used to be a village, now desecrated with a big increase in building so my sister tells me. Last time I was home Stafford common where we used to play as kids and the local farmer used to let his cows roam was so overgrown it brought tears to my eyes. The farm is gone for houses. Did have one great moment though, I walked down the lane that went down to Gorsienon and found an old worn marble, I remember knuckling a marble down there when I was a kid and liked to think it was the same one from 70 odd years ago.
Cheers Des

[Gareth Linnard]

Hi Gareth.
Like you I thought you were in Tassie. I was born in Garden Village, which used to be a village, now desecrated with a big increase in building so my sister tells me. Last time I was home Stafford common where we used to play as kids and the local farmer used to let his cows roam was so overgrown it brought tears to my eyes. The farm is gone for houses. Did have one great moment though, I walked down the lane that went down to Gorsienon and found an old worn marble, I remember knuckling a marble down there when I was a kid and liked to think it was the same one from 70 odd years ago.
Cheers Des

I'm sat less than a mile from there now. I'm from Mumbles originally but these days I live in Waunarlwydd, about 100' from the river which marks the boundary with Gowerton. Amazing isn't it. I can see how you'd think it was Swansea Tasmania, but no I'm in the old one.