Here is the fun tale of Mike, the female Williamsburg Post Office cat. Not only was Mike misnamed, she was “missent.” If there had been an Internet back then, this story would have surely gone viral.
Archive for the ‘Cat Mascots’ Category
1904: Fanny and Mike, the Black Cat Mascots of the NYPD Harbor Police
Posted: 6th October 2022 by The Hatching Cat in Cat Mascots, Cats in the Mews, Feline MascotsTags: Cats of Old New York, Harbor Police, NYPD history, NYPD Mascots, Pier 1, Pier A, William Dean
October is Black Cats of Old New York Month!
On September 19, 1904, Captain William Dean of the NYPD Harbor Police contacted the New York Times to brag about the rescue of a large black cat. The cat, which the men named Mike, joined another black cat named Fanny on the Harbor Police patrol boat.
1928: Tiger Lil, the Feline Survivor of the Sinking of the S.S. Vestris
Posted: 24th August 2022 by The Hatching Cat in Cat Mascots, Seafaring CatsTags: Alfred Dinely, Lamport and Holt, mascot cat, S.S. Vestris, Ship Cat, William J. Carey
“No disaster story is quite complete without the rescue of at least one cat.”–Ithaca Journal, reporting on the sinking of the S.S. Vestris, November 15, 1928
On November 10, 1928, just around 4 p.m., the S.S. Vestris of the Lamport and Holt Line left her pier on the East River in Brooklyn. The steam ocean liner, which transported passengers from New York to South America and Liverpool, was bound for the Rio de la Plata with 128 human passengers, 198 crew members, and one feline mascot.
Nearly one-third of the people on board would not survive the trip. The cat would make it.
The Pole-Dancing Fire Cats of Gotham
Posted: 14th July 2022 by The Hatching Cat in Cat Mascots, FDNY Horses/MascotsTags: Cats of Old New York, FDNY fire cats, FDNY history, New York City History, Pounce Cat Cafe
Here’s a tribute to a few “pole-dancing” fire cats that I’ve featured in earlier posts, as well as some snippets of fire-cat stories that will be in my upcoming book on FDNY animal mascots (in other words, this is a tease…)
