The prevalence of cats on ships has led to them being reported on by a number of noted seafarers. The outbreak of the
Second World War, with the spread of mass communication and the active nature of the world's navies, also led to a number of ship's cats becoming celebrities in their own right.
Aussie Aussie was the last ship's cat of the
transpacific liner . He was a five-year-old grey-and-white long-haired tom. His mother had been
Niagaras cat before him; his father was a
Persian cat in
Vancouver,
British Columbia. Aussie was born at
Suva in
Fiji. When
Niagara was
mined off the coast of
New Zealand in 1940, Aussie was put in one of the lifeboats, but he jumped back aboard ship. A few days later, residents of
Horahora, Whangarei, claimed that a cat answering Aussie's description came ashore on a piece of driftwood, and that one of them had taken him in, but the cat escaped and had not been seen since. Blackie survived the
sinking of Prince of Wales by the
Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service later that year, and was taken to
Singapore with the survivors. He could not be found when Singapore was evacuated the following year and his fate is unknown.
Camouflage Camouflage was the name of the ship's cat aboard a US Coast Guard
LST in the Pacific theater, WWII. He was known for chasing enemy
tracer rounds across the deck.
Chibley Chibley was the ship's cat aboard the
tall ship barque . She was rescued from an animal shelter and
circumnavigated the world five times.
Picton Castle's role as a training ship resulted in Chibley being introduced to a large number of visitors and becoming a celebrity in her own right. Chibley died on November 10, 2011, in
Lunenburg, Nova Scotia. She had sailed over 180,000 miles at sea.
Convoy Convoy was the ship's cat aboard . He was named for his role in
convoy escort missions. He was listed in the ship's roster and had a special kit, including a tiny
hammock. He was killed along with 87 crew members when
Hermione was torpedoed and sunk by the on June 16, 1942.
Emmy Emmy was the ship's cat on . She was an orange tabby cat who never missed a voyage. However, on 28 May 1914, Emmy jumped ship while in port in Quebec City. The crew returned her to the ship, but she left again, leaving her kittens behind.
Empress of Ireland left without her, which was regarded as a terrible omen. Early the next morning
Empress of Ireland was struck by while steaming through fog near the mouth of the
Saint Lawrence River and rapidly sank, killing more than 1,000 people.
Felix Felix was the ship's cat aboard
Mayflower II when she set sail from Devon, England, to Plymouth, Massachusetts, in 1957 to symbolise the solidarity between the UK and the US following World War II. He was given his own life jacket and once suffered a broken paw after a mishap. The paw was set by the ship's doctor. Photos and stories about Felix appeared in
National Geographic,
Life, and
Yankee magazine after his arrival in the US. The cat and the rest of the crew marched in a New York
ticker tape parade and toured the East Coast that summer. He was eventually adopted by the cabin boy's girlfriend, Ann Berry, and settled in
Waltham,
Massachusetts. A former captain of the
Mayflower II wrote a children's book about Felix entitled
Felix and his Mayflower II Adventures. The book was published during the celebration of the ship's fiftieth anniversary at
Plimoth Plantation.
Halifax Halifax was the name given to Alvah and Diana Simon's ship's cat who was found in the Canadian port of
Halifax, on their way to winter at Tay Bay in 1994, on
Roger Henry. The cat spent all of the time iced in on the boat with Alvah, when Diana had to leave for family purposes. Alvah's book
North To The Night describes his adventure in the ice with Halifax the cat, who ended up losing half an ear to frostbite.
Jenny Jenny was the name of the ship's cat aboard
Titanic and was mentioned in the accounts of several of the crew members who survived the ocean liner's
fateful 1912 maiden voyage. She was transferred from
Titanics sister ship and gave birth in the week before
Titanic left Southampton. The galley is where Jenny and her kittens normally lived, cared for by the
victualling staff who fed them kitchen scraps. Stewardess
Violet Jessop later wrote in her memoir that the cat "laid her family near Jim, the
scullion, whose approval she always sought and who always gave her warm devotion".
Kiddo and Kiddo Kiddo the cat was apparently a
stowaway on the
airship America, when it departed
Atlantic City, New Jersey, in an attempt to cross the
Atlantic Ocean in 1910. Initially, Kiddo found the experience of air travel quite unpleasant and raised such a ruckus, the cat had to be placed in a
gunny sack and suspended beneath the airship's gondola. He eventually settled in and evidently was better at predicting bad weather than the airship's
barometer. ''America's'' engines failed and the small crew and Kiddo abandoned the
dirigible for
lifeboats and they sighted the
Royal Mail Ship near
Bermuda. After their rescue, Kiddo was retired from being a ship's cat and was cared for by Edith Wellman Ainsworth, the daughter of the American
journalist,
explorer, and
aviator Walter Wellman who made the aborted ocean crossing in the airship.
Mrs Chippy Mrs Chippy (actually a male) was the ship's cat aboard
Endurance, the ship used by Sir
Ernest Shackleton for his
Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition in 1914.
Endurance was destroyed in 1915 after becoming trapped in pack ice and sank; Shackleton then ordered four sled dogs and Mrs. Chippy shot, as he had decided that the animals could not be properly cared for during the arduous journey ahead and would likely not survive.
Nansen Nansen (actually a female) was the ship's cat on , which was used for the
Belgian Antarctic Expedition in 1897. She was brought on board by cabin boy Johan Koren and was named after
Fridtjof Nansen. She died on 22 June 1898, and was buried in the
Antarctic.
Peebles Peebles was the ship's cat aboard . Another cat who became a favourite of the ship's crew, he was known to be particularly intelligent and would shake the hands of strangers when they entered the
wardroom.
Pooli Pooli served aboard a United States
attack transport during the Second World War. She was awarded three
service ribbons and four
battle stars.
Rinda Rinda was the ship's cat on the Norwegian cargo ship , which was torpedoed and sunk during World War II. When the surviving crew realised that their beloved ship's cat was not on board the lifeboat, they rowed around in the night until they finally heard a pitiful "miauu" in the distance. "We rowed as hard as we could and laughed and cried when we lifted the sopping wet furball aboard". The cat became the ship's cat aboard the rescue ship, the
British armed naval trawler , and was given the name Rinda after the previous ship.
Simon Simon was the ship's cat of during the
Yangtze Incident in 1949 and was wounded in the bombardment of the ship which killed 25 of
Amethyst's crew, including the commanding officer. He soon recovered and resumed killing rats and keeping up the crew's morale. He was appointed to the rank of 'Able Seacat' Simon and became a
celebrity after the ship escaped the Yangtze and returned to Britain. He later contracted an infection and died shortly after. Tributes poured in and his
obituary appeared in
The Times. He was posthumously awarded the
Dickin Medal, the only cat ever to earn the award, and was buried with full naval honours.
Tarawa Tarawa was a kitten rescued from a
pillbox during the
Battle of Tarawa by the
United States Coast Guard. She was a mascot aboard an
LST but did not get along with the LST's other mascot, a dog named Kodiak, and jumped ship ashore.
Tom Tom, a grey and black tabby, was a ship's cat of the US Navy, aboard the in 1898. When the ship was sunk in
Havana Harbor on 15 February 1898 (an act which precipitated the
Spanish–American War), 266 sailors, a
Pug mascot, and two of the three ship's cats died, but Tom survived (with injuries). Adopted by the
Maine's executive officer, then-Commander
Richard Wainwright, Tom was subsequently featured in
animal-rights-related materials by the
ASPCA and other
humane societies, who praised the naval treatment of ship's cats as cared-for, working companion animals.
Trim Trim was the ship's cat on a number of the ships under the command of
Matthew Flinders during voyages to circumnavigate and map the coastline of Australia during 1801–1803. He became a favourite of the crew and was the first cat to circumnavigate Australia. He remained with Flinders until death. He has been the subject of a number of works of literature, and statues have been placed in his honour, including one that sits on a windowsill at the
State Library of New South Wales in Sydney.
Unsinkable Sam Previously named Oscar, he was the ship's cat of the . When the ship was sunk on 27 May 1941, only 116 crew members of over 2,200 survived. Oscar was picked up by the destroyer , one of the ships responsible for destroying the
Bismarck.
Cossack herself was torpedoed and sunk on 24 October 1941, killing 159 of her crew; but Oscar again survived, was rescued and taken to
Gibraltar. He became the ship's cat of , which was torpedoed and sunk in November that year. Oscar was again rescued, but it was decided at that time to transfer him to a home on land. By now known as Unsinkable Sam because of surviving the three ship sinkings, he was given a new job as shore duty mouse-catcher in the office buildings of the Governor of Gibraltar because he still had "
six lives to go". He eventually was taken to the UK and spent the rest of his life at the 'Home for Sailors'. A portrait of him exists in the collections of the
National Maritime Museum in
Greenwich. ==In fiction==