Archive for the ‘Seafaring Cats’ Category

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 Cats
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“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.

1917: Joe Fife, the Pedigree Cat From the Bronx Who Joined the Crew of the USS President Lincoln

Posted: 18th November 2021 by The Hatching Cat in Cat Mascots, Seafaring Cats
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Joe Fife (probably named for Commodore Joseph Fife, who began his naval career during the Civil War) was a prize-winning pedigree cat who lived a luxurious life in a villa in the Kingsbridge neighborhood of the Bronx.

He reportedly joined the crew of the USS President Lincoln shortly after the liner was placed into service as a WWI troop transport based at the Hoboken Port of Embarkation.

1899: Tom the Terror, the Brooklyn-Born Ship Cat of the United States Navy

Posted: 25th April 2021 by The Hatching Cat in Cat Mascots, Seafaring Cats
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Tom the Terror was reportedly a noted figure in the United States Navy. He came from a long line of naval cats, having been born on the Cob Deck at the Brooklyn Navy Yard in 1896. All of his siblings and cousins had also honorably served the United States Navy as rat killers and mascots.

1899: Tonias Cervera, the Seafaring Cat Who Survived the Wreck of the Cristóbal Colón

Posted: 26th March 2021 by The Hatching Cat in Cat Mascots, Seafaring Cats
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I once wrote about Tom, the famous cat that survived the explosion and sinking of the USS Maine during the Spanish-American War. The following tale is about several other seafaring cats who similarly survived naval events during the same war: these were the ship cats of the Cristóbal Colón, a Spanish cruiser that ran aground during the Battle of Santiago de Cuba.