The Baragoola is the last surviving Sydney built Manly ferry. Typical of the six near identical vessels that were built for the Port Jackson and Manly Steamship Company by Mort's Dockyard, she is an extremely rare example of large ship building in Sydney. She and her sisters typified the type of ferry that would come to be closely associated with the Manly trade during most of the 20th century. She and her sister North Head (ex Barrenjoey) would ultimately outlast the three Scottish built ferries that were introduced after her. In all, Baragoola provided 61 years of dedicated service to the people of Sydney. Now, she needs your help to come back to life.
My family all had our favorites of these lovely old girls. This was my dad's favorites when we were kids. We always liked riding it too because it was the only one with a shop and you might be able to con the parents into getting you a bag of chips or a coke.
a few weeks ago, after seeing the old PBS doc 'Night of the Grizzlies', about the Glacier horror, I started watching bear videos like crazy. based on what little I know after that, I'd call this an extremely rare story. I really would rather people leave forest animals in the forest ,but I do like these people, and it is what it is. Herc was domesticated, and indeed treated by these 2 as well as the circumstances would allow. maybe I should watch it again, but was his domestication the reason he didn't fare well in his 'escapade' ? bears are known to exert very little effort getting food, when they can get it more easily, whether stealing another animal's prey, or as Herc was raised, having the food all secured, and handed to him. that statue is one of the best works of art I ever had the pleasure to gaze at. Hercules is dead. long live Hercules!
recently of 2022, Baragoola has recently sank in the port to where it resided at, the ship is unfortunately not repairable, and will unfortunately be scrapped.
We always called it the Baracoola from the time we rode it from about 1964 and to the eighties. We were informed it was actually the Baragoola well after that.
The big softy? Huh? Oh, nothing….No, what? Big SOFTY? Yeah? Never mind….lol.. No, all joking aside, what a heart warming documentary. They gave their all to this big, lovable teddy bear.
Yeah stupidest statement about saying there the first taming a bear. No never been tge first and never will be the first to tame a animal. Fucking understatement. Anyway it's cool to have a huge animal like that thou.
you never know when you will find your animal soul mate...but when you do ...you find a love like no other...what a beautiful gift I am so glad that they shared their story...what a truly gentle soul Hercules was...
Well maybe if they didn't ride him by 2 people at the same time his spine wouldn't have been injured. They rode him alot. He was not built for that. He wasn't a horse. They don't get it.
I first heard about Andy and Herc when I was maybe 7 or 8 years old, my dad told me a story about them and it amazed and scared me that someone would wrestle and play with a bear. Loved hearing the Herc stories over the years, truly a special bear.
Bears like Hercules are better left to live in the wild, but if they had not bought him as a cub he would have been euthanised, he was a gentle giant, and the love among all three of them was wonderful!
Comments that are negative concerning these people are wrong! These people loved that animal. And treated him well. They saved his life then gave him a life and he gave them a life. Period it’s that simple. Wonderful story of inspiration and how we don’t truly understand everything! Nicely done.
The determination of Andy is something inspiring for all of us. It shows us that when we don’t give up on something we all can succeed. What an inspirational person and 🐻.
Wow at first sight I would of ran,It just shows that we don't know are understand everything the bear was shown love and respect and he returned love and respect it's a heart touching story.
Im really torn when it comes to captivity but i think every situation is different and this story was great and for what ever reason it worked but i would like to know if they had him de-clawed because i can't see the bear coin all that wrestling and being on movie sets with natural claws….(if anyone knows id luv to hear feedback)I f u ask me about killer whales & dolphins i don't think its fair and mostly because there completely taken out of there habit and put into fish bowls, i don't know why they keep them in such small pools. Its good for education and the experience but some of these animals must go crazy, it would b like locking someone up in a padded room and makin them do tricks for food and elephants……don't get me started on there captivity and for some reasons i cry like a baby when i see and hear of elephant abuse and what poachers do is unbelievable, its torcherous and punishment should be the same as what they do to those beautiful giants!
Back in 1964 one of the ferries had the huge engine puffing out steam and all the engine smells, and you watched it working in the bowels of the boat. It was the place to sit in cold weather.
