Andre was a harbor seal, who was born in Rockport, Maine in 1961. Harry Goodridge, his trainer, found him when he was 2 days old and had been abandoned by his mother. He raised him and taught him to do tricks, which amused the Rockport tourists. However, as he got older, Andre became so friendly with people that he would jump into boats, sometimes capsizing them. When it was decided that Andre couldn’t spend all year roaming freely in Rockport, Goodridge arranged for him to spend his winters at the New England Aquarium in Boston, starting in 1973. The seal was transported down from Maine to Boston every year, first by truck, and later by plane. At the end of his stay, Andre was let go off the coast of Marblehead, where he began his swim up the coast back home to Rockport. He usually made the trip in less than five days, although one time he took fourteen, having elected to take a more roundabout route. This annual swim became a huge tourist sensation. Duke grew up visiting the New England Aquarium throughout his childhood.