The Peculiar Truth about the Hurricane Giraffes

• 1938: In a time of Depression and World War, people were desperate for some good news. So newspapers across the US happily printed updates about an unlikely coast to coast journey.

• After surviving a dangerous voyage across the Atlantic, two giraffes, a male and a female, were on their way from New York City to the San Diego Zoo.

• Since there was no other way to get them to their destination, the tall animals had to travel across the country in a modified pickup truck.

• San Diego Zoo administrator Belle Benchley initiated the arrangements to bring the giraffes from Africa to Southern California. She was the first woman zoo director in the world, and under her leadership the San Diego Zoo flourished to become one of the most visited attractions in the US. Ms. Benchley became known as the Zoo Lady.

• In anticipation of the giraffe’s arrivals, she arranged a naming contest. The giraffes were named Patches and Lofty.

• Getting the animals across the ocean in the first place was a hazardous feat. In September, they sailed on the SS Robin Goodfellow, a merchant marine vessel.

• The ship and its crew had to survive the Great Hurricane of ’38, one of the fiercest in history. It began in New England, pulverized the northeastern seaboard, and rattled the Empire State Building. No other storm matched its intensity until Hurricane Sandy in 2012.

• Sailing was treacherous. The animals’ food fell into the ocean, and a rhinoceros onboard died. The female giraffe was thought to have died, too, but she survived with an injured leg. The Goodfellow eventually brought Patches and Lofty to New York harbor.

• That was just the beginning, however. Next came their 12-day odyssey across the continent.

• For that trip Ms. Benchley had sent Charley Smith, the zoo’s head keeper. He was on hand to assist the animals. The driver was Ed Seuss.

• A special tall wooden box enclosure was created for the two giraffes, and it was strapped to the back of an altered flatbed pickup truck. The animals had to remain inside the cramped quarters for the entire journey, even while the female giraffe recuperated from the leg injury. They could poke their heads out the sides, however, to see and be seen.

• Smith, Seuss, and the giraffes traveled mostly along the Lee Highway, a now-defunct road built in 1923 as a southern alternative to the Lincoln Highway. The drive was slow going.

• They began in Brooklyn, traveled south to Washington, DC, through Virginia and Tennessee to Chattanooga, and then drove due west. They crossed the Mississippi at Memphis and from there went through Arkansas, southern Oklahoma, the Texas panhandle, and along the southern regions of the western states. In California, they hugged the Mexican border until arriving in San Diego. Along the way, they experienced mountains, rivers, the plains, and deserts - nearly every terrain in the US, and all entirely unfamiliar land to African giraffes.

• Americans along the route clamored to see Lofty and Patches as they passed through their towns and cities. Newspapers posted their daily progress.

• October 17, 1938: The giraffes arrived in San Diego to a tremendous welcome, and the animals were put in a special free-range enclosure where they spent the rest of their lives.

• Belle Benchley retired in 1953 and received special recognition for her achievements. She died 20 years later.

• Lofty and Patches lived 30 years at the San Diego Zoo, and they sired seven baby giraffes including D-Day, Patty, Rusty, and Raffy.