[PUBLIC EXHIBITION].
Bath, February 5th, 1780. Look Sharp! Or you will actually loose the Opportunity of seeing that beautiful Animal the Zebra,
A ZEBRA AMONGST THE SPOILS OF WAR AND EXHIBITED FOR "THE INSPECTION OF THE CURIOUS"
[PUBLIC EXHIBITION].
Bath, February 5th, 1780. Look Sharp! Or you will actually loose the Opportunity of seeing that beautiful Animal the Zebra,
UNRECORDED. Not in ESTC or OCLC.
An otherwise unknown handbill advertising the exhibition of a zebra which was taken as part of the cargo of an extremely valuable Spanish ship captured on a voyage from Manila to Cadiz. The zebra was exhibited in the west of England for a short period before being auctioned and purchased by Philip Astley for his famous equestrian circus show.
On the 24th August 1779 The Ranger of Bristol and the Amazon of Liverpool took the valuable Spanish ship Santa Inez bound from Manila to Cadiz. The captured ship was taken first to Cork and eventually to Bristol in February 1780 where her cargo was found to be valued at around £250,000 making her one of the most valuable prizes taken at that time. The holds contained chests of sugar, black pepper and beeswax along with, as reported in the local newspaper, “A beautiful Zebra, remarkably tame and quite young…**Of all the exhibitions that ever were exhibited in this city the Zebra, or Wild Ass, taken by the Ranger and Amazon on its passage to Spain has the pre-eminence; this most beautiful animal is visited daily by the first families of Bristol. The Zebra continues in this city this day and absolutely no longer as **she will be removed to Bath on Monday next for the inspection of the curious.”
The Whitehall Evening Post reported on 19th-22nd February 1780 that, “The Zebra that was taken on board the St. Innis Manilla-man by the Ranger privateer of Bristol, and Amazon of Liverpool, was sold by auction to Mr. Astley, the celebrated horseman. The singular stripes of black, brown and white is more beautiful in this animal than in any other that ever was brought over.”
