Ship's Cat

[flavelle]

OK so strange question: I was wondering if cats were still found aboard our navy ships these days. I've only read of historic ship's cats. Has anyone ever heard of this in the CF?

 

[Stoker]

No there are no ship's cats or mascots on board HMC ships. I never heard of this in my career.

 

[niceasdrhuxtable]

I think it's a great idea though. I think an actual cat would probably end up getting locked away in an infrequently accessed space, however, so perhaps the ship could designate an OS or A/SLT to wear cat ears and painted on whiskers and keep ship morale up.

 

[The Bread Guy]

I think it's a great idea though. I think an actual cat would probably end up getting locked away in an infrequently accessed space, however, so perhaps the ship could designate an OS or A/SLT to wear cat ears and painted on whiskers and keep ship morale up.

This could be a good

or a bad idea....

 

[agc]

I think it's a great idea though. I think an actual cat would probably end up getting locked away in an infrequently accessed space, however, so perhaps the ship could designate an OS or A/SLT to wear cat ears and painted on whiskers and keep ship morale up.

It would save on rations, since said shipmate would be allowed to eat the rats.

 

[TN2IC]

Got the Dockyard Cats over in Halifax Fleet Mail Office... unless the little shed got moved. It's been awhile.

 

[jollyjacktar]

Yeah the Dkyd kitties are still around and on the job.  Sorry to say that we don't have the traditions of mascots anymore on ship.  I would think that it mostly went out the window after the war.  PMed would have a shit fit if we kept animals on nowadays I would think.

I did hear of a couple of lads who tried to sneak a horse aboard the Bonnie when they were in Cork, Ireland.  The Old Man however caught them in the act and put a stop to it despite the passionate pleas of the sailors.  So, back the horse went.  But the boys were not done, and they brought back a selection of horse turds.  The Old Man it seems was in the habit of walkies throughout the ship on the run of a day to see how things were going.  The trip back home was going to take about a week or so.  Every day the boys would leave evidence of a horse here and there.  The Old Man was convinced they had indeed brought the horse and were shifting it as needed to escape detection.  He was driven half mad tearing here and there trying to find it whenever he could spare or make the time.  The lower decks loved it so I was told.  ;D

 

[Bass ackwards]

It would save on rations, since said shipmate would be allowed to eat the rats.

OK, I gotta ask: in this day and age, are there still rats* to be found on HMC ships ?
And if so, do they cause much of a problem ?


* (I refer to the creepy, long-tailed, four-legged, bewhiskered rodent -NOT the shipmate you're currently annoyed with)

 

[agc]

Rat guards are put on the hawsers to keep them out.  The odd one still makes its way aboard.  Not generally a problem though.

 

[Bass ackwards]

Thanks.

(rats = shiver)

 

[Snakedoc]

No there are no ship's cats or mascots on board HMC ships. I never heard of this in my career.

What about a dog onboard ship to chase the 'cat' around? lol

 

[OldSolduer]

:THAT is just soooooo gayyyyyyy...... :

 

[Fishbone Jones]

:THAT is just soooooo gayyyyyyy...... :

PCness please :tsktsk: It's spelled gheyyyyyyyy ;D

Milnet.ca Staff

 

[xena]

:THAT is just soooooo gayyyyyyy...... :

It geth tho hawd to thpeak when oou make me vite my thongue wike dith.  :warstory:

 

[my72jeep]

Oh my gives a new meaning to seamen.

 

[Pusser]

OK, I gotta ask: in this day and age, are there still rats* to be found on HMC ships ?
And if so, do they cause much of a problem ?


* (I refer to the creepy, long-tailed, four-legged, bewhiskered rodent -NOT the shipmate you're currently annoyed with)

We still have to carry de-ratting certificates.

More to the point, live animal mascots on board ship used to be quite common, but the practice pretty much died in the post war years.

 

[Oldgateboatdriver]

For many years, we had a camp mascot dog at Albert Head. Went from OS Dummer to  CPO1 Dummer before he passed away.

Any abuse of Dummer was as near to a court martial offence as you could come, like any attempt on the lives of those $%^$%#@$^* peacocks at Royal Roads.

 

[Pat in Halifax]

DC Div outside of Halifax had a black lab named.....Dee-Cee (If I recall), when I was there '96-'98 - Had the run of the place. Was actually a better watchdog than some of the weekend commissionaires of that era!! I know he was still there after I left but not sure what ever became of him. (Actually, I think "he" was a "she")
There is an intresting side bar story to the sinking of ATHABASKAN in Apr 1944 - Apparently, just as the ship was slipping to go out on patrol that evening, the ship's cat "Ginger" jumped across to the jetty, staying behind....an omen?.....

 

[Retired AF Guy]

Number # 6 from Cracked.com's most 6 Cats More Badass Than You (And Most Superheroes) :

#6.  Sam the Ship-Sinking Cat

In all sorts of sea vessels, it's not uncommon to have a ship's cat to catch any mice or rats that might be lurking on board. One such cat, a black-and-white patched male with an unknown name, was serving onboard the German warship Bismarck in May 1941.

History buffs will know what happened next -- the Bismarck was sunk in battle May 27 on its first-ever mission, killing 95 percent of its crew. Among the survivors, however, was the ship's cat, who was found floating on a board somewhat relieved that his job of killing all the mice on the Bismarck had suddenly become incredibly easy. The cat was the only Bismarck survivor picked up by the HMS Cossack, a British destroyer. They took him onto the boat, named him Oscar and made him their ship's cat, but had they the time machine necessary to read this article, they probably would've drowned him like the Dutch lady in Lethal Weapon 2.

Oscar served on the Cossack until October 1941, when a torpedo from a German submarine blew a giant ass hole in it. Another ship, the HMS Legion, tried to tow it to safety, but the weather was too rough, and the Legion had had a really long day and honestly just didn't fucking feel like it. The Cossack was left to sink, but Oscar was found on a raft of dead bodies he had woven together [citation needed] and taken to Gibraltar. By now he had gained the new nickname "Unsinkable Sam," since "Neptune, God of the Sea" had already been taken.

Flying in the face of superstitious reason, Sam was transferred to another British Navy vessel, the aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal, within a couple of weeks. In November of that same year, the Ark Royal was torpedoed and sunk by the Germans. Nearly the entire crew, including an "angry but quite unharmed" Sam, was saved by the HMS Legion (the same vessel that had saved Sam from the Cossack) as well as the HMS Lightning. By this point everyone finally realized that this cat needed to stay the hell away from boats, and Sam was transferred to the governor's office in Gibraltar to be the official mouse catcher and storm conjurer.

Sam never boarded another ship, but his career of destruction wasn't over yet. The two boats that saved the crew of the Ark Royal, the Legion and the Lightning, would both be attacked and sunk by the Germans within the next two years. With such a track record, we imagine that the Royal Navy started making regular sacrifices to Sam in exchange for letting its ships stay afloat.

 

[jollyjacktar]

Thanks Retired, for the laugh.  Enjoyed it very much.