History

Unsinkable Sam – The Cat That Survived 3 Ship Sinkings in WW2

Introduction to Unsinkable Sam

Unsinkable Sam, also known as Oscar, is a cat that started World War 2 as a Nazi sailor and ended it as a British version of Puss n Boots. Unsinkable Sam got his name Oscar from the British after they destroyed the German battleship the now wet cat was sailing on. They found the poor black and white kitty in the water and because of the letter “O” in the International Code of Signals represents “man overboard” they gave the cat the name Oscar. Unluckily though as the age-old saying goes “cats hate water” poor Unsinkable Sam was actually very sinkable and met the water multiple times.

The Sinking of the Bismarck

Unsinkable Sam was believed to be owned by one of the crewmen of the Bismarck and left an occupied Polish port for sea on the 18th of May 1941. Unfortunately, the Bismarck rotor jammed after taking damage from a British aircraft and became unmaneuverable. The sailors on board decided to “fight to the last shell.” The ship sat through the night with the sailors becoming more and more depressed about their dire situation. The ship was fired on several times by allied forces during the night. In the morning British forces attacked the Bismarck and destroyed what was left of the badly damaged ship. Firing 2,800 shells with 400 hits. The german set explosive charges and abandoned the ship. The ship finally disappeared under the surface at 10:40 in the morning. The British looked for survivors but out of the 2,100 crew the Bismarck only 115 sailors survived and one cat. Unsinkable Sam was found floating on top of a board and rescued by British Sailors of the HMS Cossack.

The Sinking of the HMS Cossack

Once onboard the HMS Cossack the sailors named Unsinkable Sam Oscar because they had no idea what his original name would have been. He became some sort of mascot for the ship and helped boost morale onboard the HMS Cossak. Unsinkable Sam spent several months aboard the HMS Cossak touring the Mediterranean Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean. Unfortunately for Sam his though its ship would be hit by a lone German submarine torpedo. The explosion killed 159 sailors but Unsinkable Sam survived. The ship did not fully sink from the damage and the sailors were rescued and welcomed aboard the HMS Legion. There was an attempt to rescue the HMS Cossak and tow the ship back to port for repairs but after a day and the worsening weather the rescue was abandoned and the ship soon sunk into the sea.

The Sinking of the HMS Ark Royal

Oscar was now being called Unsinkable Sam after surviving two different ship sinkings. Sam was then transferred to the HMS Ark Royal. Ironically the HMS Ark Royal was the aircraft carrier that the plane flew from when it destroyed the rotors of the Bismarck. The HMS Ark Royal was seen as a really lucky ship having survived many sea battles but unlucky for Unsinkable Sam this story has a trend of the cat ships having a hard time staying afloat and on November 14th, 1941 while the ship was sailing to Malta the ship was torpedoed by a German submarine. There was an attempt to tow this ship back for repairs too but it was gaining water too fast and eventually sank. Luckily compared to the first two sinkings only one sailor died as a result of the ship being lost. Unsinkable Sam was again found floating on top of a board in the water and was described as “angry but quite unharmed.” Sam was then transferred to the HMS Lightning and then the HMS Legion for a second time. Ironically both these ships would also sink, the HMS Legion in 1942 during an air raid and the HMS Lightning in 1943. Fortunately for Unsinkable Sam, he would not be aboard these ships and sitting happy and dry on land while they disappeared into the ocean.

Outro to Unsinkable Sam

After the sinking of the HMS Ark Royal Unsinkable Sam, the very sinkable would be sent to land where he would finally be truly unsinkable. He spent some time in the office of the Governor of Gibraltar but then spent the remainder of the war in a seaman’s home in Belfast called the “Home of Sailors”. Sam died in 1955 at the age of 14. He served in the Navy from 1941 until 1946 in both the Kriegsmarine and the Royal Navy. Unsinkable Sam has a pastel portrait of themselves hanging in the National Maritime Museum so that this kitty can forever be remembered. Conspiracy time. This cat must have been so mad at the British for sinking its ship that the kitty went and sank every British ship it touched using its powerful cat mind… but that’s just a theory.



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