Memorial Day Qat Story (Or "kitteh" as most of you have it...)

[WhoIsNumberNone]

Meet Oscar- Das Kat:


Born in Nazi Germany, Oscar served as the ship's qat on the battleship KM Bismarck. He was on board when the ship sailed on its only sortie on May 18, 1941. The Bismarck was sunk on May 27, 1941 by the British fleet, and only 115 of her crew of over 2200 survived.

Oscar was pulled from the sea by the crew of the British destroyer HMS Cossack. Although he still meowed in German, the Cossack's crew adopted him as their own ship's qat. He served on the Cossack for several months of convoy duty until, on October 24, 1941 the Cossack was torpedoed by the German submarine U-563. The damage was extreme- The initial explosion killed 159 of the Cossack's crew of 190, but again Oscar survived. The Cossack sank on October 27, after an unsuccessful attempt to tow her to Gibraltar for repairs.

Oscar debarked at Gibraltar for a brief period, but soon joined the crew of the aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal as "Unsinkable Sam"... And was promptly torpedoed by U-81 on November 13, 1941- this time with the loss of only one man. Ark Royal sank the next day 30 miles off Gibraltar. The crew were again pulled from the sea when rescue vessels arrived, and Sam was found clinging to a plank- "angry, but unharmed".

Sam was briefly placed in the care of the Governor of Gibraltar, but, given his history, it was thought best to retire Sam, and he was sent back to the Britain where he spent the rest of the war on land. Sam lived in a seaman's home in Belfast until his death in 1955.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unsinkable_Sam
http://internet-pets.blogspot.com/2008/05/special-and-unusual-felines.html
http://www.mnn.com/family/pets/stories/cats-at-sea-7-famous-seafaring-felines

[Arugula Latte]

1. Wow.

Maybe I do believe that 9 lives thing now.