A RHINO ON BUTT BRIDGE

In 1963 , Bristol Steam Navigation operated a twice weekly liner service with the m/v "Pluto" and m/v "Juno" between Bristol, Dublin, and Waterford. I was Chief Officer on the "Juno" and a colleague of mine from Portishead was on the sister ship.

The voyage between the ports was approximately 14 to 16 hours depending on the tides and weather. The cargoes were mainly manufactured goods from the United Kingdom and Guinness and food or agricultural products from the Irish Republic. This was in the days before containerisation so you did get some really odd consignments. The subject of this story is very much the true tale from my colleague on the "Pluto" pictured above. It is a great story.

In those days there was a liaison between Bristol Zoo in Clifton and the equally lovely Dublin Zoo in Phoenix Park. I believe this link remains to this day with both zoos engaged in conservation, breeding, and welfare of lots of species including the white rhino. There was to be a transfer of a rhino from Bristol to Dublin and Bristol Steam received this charter. Either ship could have had the task but with weather, tides, and meticulous planning the job fell to the "Pluto".

And so our hapless rhino was sedated to a certain extent for the trip, put inside a very robust metal cage cum crate brought down from Clifton and lifted carefully on board just abaft the bridge. The crate was well secured with chains and bottle-screws and the vessel sailed immediately to Dublin in calm weather with this great beast standing bemused and totally out of it . The passage went really well and the vessel cut up past Skokholm on the Welsh Coast to make a very swift trip to Ireland. The "Pluto" tied up early morning on Georges Quay and not the Custom House Quay as that berth could not take the crane's weight. The crate was discharged onto the back of a low loader truck. The Mate heaved a sigh of relief - job done and our responsibility ended.

The truck started to go to the Zoo and across the Liffey via Butt Bridge where they then encountered early morning rush hour and they had a traffic jam. The rhino's sedation started to wear off, and there he was on Butt Bridge with impatient drivers sounding horns etc and overhead Coras Iompair trains coming and going with a clatter. Now imagine if you are hung over and wake up with some numpty sounding his horn and trains rattling by above your head and you are not a happy rhino. Now rhinos can be tetchy at the best of times and so this beast developed a cob-on of some magnitude. He started to try and use his horn BANG - !!!! the truck's front wheels came up then down, similarly the back wheels. The driver says in a thick Dublin accent " F***K This - I'm Off!" The Gardai [members of the Garda Siochana. police] arrive and there is mayhem and hilarity. Finally a vet arrives and our noble beast is calmed but the hilarity of this remained with Dubliners for weeks.

I have it on good authority that the rhino was none the worse for his adventure and found Phoenix Park even better than Clifton. Could it be a lady rhino?

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