This tale of courage and friendship is a timely reminder that while worse things happen at sea, it also brings out the best in man and his seafurring shipmates. On this occasion, the true grit award goes to the volunteer RNLI boatmen from Clacton and Margate who risked their lives in heavy seas to save the Hawkesdale’s crew. Read more
Previously…
Freddy and the Hawkesdale
This tale of courage and friendship is a timely reminder that while worse things happen at sea, it also brings out the best in man and his seafurring shipmates. On this occasion, the true grit award goes to the volunteer RNLI boatmen from Clacton and Margate who risked their lives in heavy seas to save the Hawkesdale’s crew. Read more
Joining ship
How do seafurrers become seafurrers? The real deal on joining ship from Able Sea-cat Bart along with Tubby’s true tale of Tom the Seafarer in another action-packed instalment including five kittens. Read more
Better together
Able Sea-cat Bart shares a heart-warming, better together ship’s cat story that hits the trifecta in one action-packed episode – friendship, kittens and escaping a shipwreck. Read more
Extreme survivor
Able Sea-cat Bart shares Ginger’s incredible adventure that showcases the California Clipper cat’s courage and extreme survival skills – twenty-four hours of regular dips in the ocean clinging to the ship’s auxiliary helm. Beat that Bear Grylls! Read more
Herring heist
Seafurrer Bart shares a tallish tale of enterprising Chelsea pier “pirate” cats, Tumtum and Cheechee, who first bolted down the watchman’s Bismarck herring supper, then headed up White Star liner Arabic’s gangway and downed two red herrings cook had reserved for the boatswain’s mate’s breakfast. Read more
Baby boom
Without any fuss or bother, the ship’s cat calmly delivered a litter of nine healthy kittens in a cosy corner of the chart room while BHP steamer Iron Monarch was riding through a storm off Wilson’s Promontory and huge seas were breaking all over the ship. Read more
Overboard
Joseph, an intrepid ginger tomcat, fell in the sea from the mizzen channels, heroically paddled around the Pacific for 20 minutes, and punched a predatory albatross with a paw before finally being rescued in this nail-biter from Alan Villers. Read more
Get me out of here!
“Get me out of here” springs to mind on a sinking ship. U.S. Life-Saving Service’s Captain Henry E. Ketcham and his surfmen obliged, hauling the crew and Tim, the ship’s cat, to safety in a breeches buoy in time for Christmas dinner reports Able Seacat Bart. Read more
Eating etiquette
Trim dined well thanks to his (mostly) good manners as almost every officer and man on board fed him. Able Sea-cat Bart reveals Trim’s successful table strategy and the fact that Matthew Flinders may have trimmed a couple of years off his age and shares Bruce Watson’s musical tribute to Trim the circumnavigating cat. Read more
There’s a bear in there
Not all seafurrers were ships’ cats, says Able Sea-cat Bart, regaling readers with entertaining tales of the mischief, mayhem and misdeeds wrought by “honorary seafurrers” – in this case seafaring bears. Read more
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