# Ship's Cat



## flavelle (20 Jan 2011)

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?


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## Stoker (20 Jan 2011)

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


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## niceasdrhuxtable (20 Jan 2011)

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.


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## The Bread Guy (20 Jan 2011)

niceasdrhuxtable said:
			
		

> 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....


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## agc (20 Jan 2011)

niceasdrhuxtable said:
			
		

> 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.


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## TN2IC (20 Jan 2011)

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


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## jollyjacktar (20 Jan 2011)

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


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## Bass ackwards (20 Jan 2011)

agc said:
			
		

> 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)


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## agc (20 Jan 2011)

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


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## Bass ackwards (20 Jan 2011)

Thanks.

(rats = _shiver_)


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## Snakedoc (21 Jan 2011)

Chief Stoker said:
			
		

> 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


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## OldSolduer (21 Jan 2011)

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


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## Fishbone Jones (21 Jan 2011)

Jim Seggie said:
			
		

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



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

Milnet.ca Staff


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## xena (21 Jan 2011)

Jim Seggie said:
			
		

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


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


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## my72jeep (21 Jan 2011)

Oh my gives a new meaning to seamen.


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## Pusser (24 Jan 2011)

Bass ackwards said:
			
		

> 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.


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## Oldgateboatdriver (24 Jan 2011)

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.


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## Pat in Halifax (24 Jan 2011)

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?.....


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## Retired AF Guy (24 Jan 2011)

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.
> 
> ...


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## jollyjacktar (25 Jan 2011)

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


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## Oldgateboatdriver (25 Jan 2011)

Can you sing:

"The cat came back the very next day;
The cat came back, they thought he was a goner;
But the cat came back, he just wouldn't stay away ..."


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## Pusser (25 Jan 2011)

Oldgateboatdriver said:
			
		

> 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.



I remember Dummer at Albert Head (c. 1983) and I also heard tell of a Commodore's son who got turfed from Royal Roads for taking a tennis racquet to one of the peacocks (he wasn't really cut out fo the military life anyway).


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## Pusser (25 Jan 2011)

Pat in Halifax said:
			
		

> 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?.....



When I was at the DC School in 1984, "DC" was there.  I don't know how old he/she would have been then, but he/she was certainly no puppy.  Would it be the same dog 12-14 years later.?


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## Pat in Halifax (25 Jan 2011)

Pusser:
Possible as I heard he/she passed around 99/00. All said, I think the School had dog(s) since inception at the Purcell's Cove location and it is possible that they all received the same moniker??
I know shortly after the DeeCee I am referring to, staff was told they COULD NOT get another mascot-a little unfortunate.


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## Oldgateboatdriver (25 Jan 2011)

Pusser, I know the commodore, a friend of mine - true story about his son.


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## RememberanceDay (25 Jan 2011)

Cheese wiz, It'd be awesome if there were mascots! 

How abou' something hardy like a Newfoundlander


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## Pusser (26 Jan 2011)

I've met the son.  The Commodore (later a Rear Admiral as I recall) had his own legacy...

He and a certain Vice Admiral didn't get along, bu then again that particular VAdm didn't get along with a lot of people.


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## Ex-SHAD (4 Feb 2011)

Well aside from the infestation of cats that plague Esquimalt Dockyard (there was even a cat feeding station behind the Port Security Building), I don’t believe that shipboard cats were kept on past the end of the Second World War.

Apparently, the Royal Navy carried cats aboard their ships, until the 1960’s, when they were banned for health and safety reasons.


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## Ping Monkey (19 Feb 2011)

Speaking of CF mascots, I'm not sure if anyone was previously aware of one of Naden's original mascots "Bruno the Bear".

http://www.navalandmilitarymuseum.org/resource_pages/chars/naden_bear.html


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## Oldgateboatdriver (19 Feb 2011)

No wonder all sailors wanted to serve in Stadaconna instead of Naden !


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## Colin Parkinson (22 Feb 2011)

The Coast Guard Hovercraft base at Sea island has had a cat since at least 1989. Prior to that they spent a fortune on pest control. One Captain said screw this, ordered a seaman to go to the SPCA and get the “Biggest and meanest cat you can find” We had two different cats when I was there. The first was called Victor and he was semi-psychopath, hated women and every morning he would line up his kills for inspection on the patio. If someone didn’t come out and admire his handiwork he would fling the bloody carcasses against the glass door till someone came out. He would offer his tummy for a rub from unsuspecting guests and then claw the snot out of them. If you rubbed his belly with a boot so he couldn’t hurt you, he would wait till you were busy and come up behind you and slice you from behind. He knew who buttered his bread and was nice to the CO. Victor finally disappeared without trace, we suspected that during our diving exercises we would find his body in the river with concrete overshoes. The 2nd cat named Reggie was the complete opposite, a big bundle of love, he was still there last time I checked, but his mousing days are over. The cats, their food and vet bills were line items and when CCG was moved from TC to DFO, they couldn’t believe we had a cat and we had to show how much he saved on pest control.


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## Rheostatic (4 Mar 2011)

The C&E branch has a peculiar affinity for water fowl.





			
				http://www.army.forces.gc.ca/asu_kingston/vom/tour/princess_room.aspx said:
			
		

> A young lady at the Signals Association meeting in Quebec in 1935 originally presented Ermintrude the duck to the Corps. The duck was boarded out with a local farmer near Camp Borden and died during the winter of 1937-38.
> 
> *The mortal remains of Ermintrude were mounted and now rest in the C&E Museum. *
> 
> ...





			
				http://www.c-and-e-museum.org/chap6_e2.htm said:
			
		

> In 1958 a mallard duck, Erintrude II, was presented to the School by the Adjutant, Captain D.A. Kidd. The new mascot became the responsibility of the Duck Master, 5 (Apprentice) Squadron. The next year, *this mascot disappeared and its remains were never found although rumors exist that it was eaten by junior officers of the Corps.*


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## q_1966 (25 Mar 2011)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dickin_Medal

Able Seacat Simon http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_%28cat%29


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## Leander93 (3 Jun 2011)

Saw a goldfish once but that was it. Wish we'd had cats on the gate vessels; would have cut down on the rats and mice.


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