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The Phoenix Line steamship St Andrew was the centre of considerable excitement in 1906, having reported both a sea serpent and a ‘saucer’ entering the sea during the same summer, both events being seen – possibly – by a man called Spicer, or Spencer.

In fact, the St Andrew had already made the headlines that year. In May, during a strong gale, a number of animals being transported (“80 lions, 45 bears, a herd of elephants, 13 hyenas, five chimpanzees, a dozen mongoose, a drove of camels, 25 pumas, performing horses and ponies, a sacred white bull, dogs, kangaroos, and deer”) freed themselves from their cages and ran amok on the ship:

During a storm on May 3rd a wolf escaped, and got on the main deck.