ROCKPORT — “There was something special about Andre from the beginning,” Harry Goodridge told Lew Dietz in the book “A Seal Called Andre.” His friends said Thursday that there was also “something special” about Goodridge who died unexpectedly Wednesday afternoon. He was 74.

Andre the seal and his trainer, Harry Goodridge, became famous together.

Goodridge was a tree surgeon and professional diver. He met the seal in 1961 on Robinson’s Rock, about four miles from his seaside home in Rockport. The island was a “haulout” where seals would climb ashore at low tide to lie in the sun.

Goodridge said, “I’ve been called a loner and maybe I am. I have no objection to people, but I must admit I relate better to animals. Perhaps it’s simply that animals act sensibly. For years, I had been savoring the thought of exploring the undersea world with a creature whose natural element it is.

“I’d admired (seals) the way a Little Leaguer might admire a major league ball player. In the sea, man is a clumsy amateur. The seal is the pro,” Goodridge said.

In 1961 as Goodridge and friend Robert Lane slowly approached Robinson’s Rock, they saw a baby seal swimming alone, apparently abandoned by his mother.

“I saw the small, sleek head 50 feet dead ahead, only its dome and round eyes above water. Then the seal pup raised his head as if to get a better view. The eyes that met mine showed no alarm. Then a curious and totally unexpected thing happened. Instead of submerging, the pup swam directly toward the boat. I swooped down with my net and swung the orphan aboard.

“Even as I changed a wild seal’s life by deliverance, so he changed mine. Certainly life has not been the same for either of us since,” Goodridge told Dietz.

Andre came to live in Rockport Harbor for the next 25 years, delighting some, driving others to distraction. The seal came to think of anything in the harbor as his own. He would take sun in any idle punt or dinghy, regardless of the wishes of the owner. Occasionally he would jump aboard a dinghy, scaring the wits out of the surprised fisherman.

To place some controls on the harbor situation, Goodridge built a holding pen. Actually the seal could have escaped the pen at any time, but Andre chose to accept the confinement, in exchange for the attention he got when Goodridge rowed out for the twice daily feedings.

The friendship gained national attention when Goodridge decided to take the seal to the New England Aquarium for the winter. The seal was released in Marblehead, Mass., each spring. Andre would return voluntarily to Rockport as his anxious fans kept track of his progress up the coast.

The press coverage of the annual treks were so enthusiastic that they were ridiculed first by the Columbia Journalism Review and by then-Gov. Joseph E. Brennan. Brennan then became part of Andre’s act. Goodridge at the daily feedings would ask Andre what he thought of the governor. The seal would deliver an enthusiastic Bronx cheer to the delight of the audience. Eventually, Brennan had to come to Rockport to apologize for his intemperate remarks.

As the fame spread, Disney Studios discussed, then scrapped, plans for a movie on Harry and the seal. A statue of the seal was placed at the Harbor Marine Park in Rockport.

The relationship continued until July 1986 when the seal disappeared. On the morning of July 21, 1986, Goodridge found the seal dead on Robinson’s Rock, the same place where he found him 25 years earlier. The seal died of a fierce beating from a younger seal over the “harem” on the island.

Now almost four years later, Goodridge is gone. “There was something special about Harry, too,” said longtime friend James Moore of Rockport.

A funeral will be held at 3 p.m. Saturday at the Rockport Methodist Church.

Goodridge is survived by his wife, Thalice Goodridge of Rockport; a son, Stephen of Rockport; four daughters, Susan Crane of Rockland, Carol Goodridge of Rockport, Paula Armentrout of Falmouth, and Toni Goodridge of Lincolnville; two sisters and several grandchildren.