Cats on the High Seas

Cats have a long history at sea. They first boarded ships in ancient Egypt and sailed up the Nile and out into the Mediterranean Sea. There is archeological evidence that cats made it to Greenland, probably onboard Viking ships. There are stories that Ponce De Leon may have brought the Manx cat to the Gulf Coast of Florida. Then there is the theory that the Maine Coon developed as a result of cross breeding between some of Marie Antoinette’s long haired cats that were sent over from France and the American Shorthair.

Cats were often welcomed additions to any crew because they kept the mice and rats in check. Rats and mice not only ate the food but they chewed on the rigging of a ship. They were also carriers of disease.

Not only were cats hunters, they could according to some beliefs predict the weather. If a cat liked its fur the in the opposite direction in which the fur lies, it meant a hailstorm. If it sneezed a rainstorm was coming and if the cat was frisky, wind was coming. There is some science behind this. Cats have sensitive inner ears and when they sense the lowering of the atmospheric pressure they become nervous and restless.

Then there were those who believed cats could control the weather The cat could invoke the wind with its tail, and the type of wind depended upon the cat’s mood. If a cat fell overboard, the cat would conjure a storm to sink the ship for revenge.

While black cats on land were considered bad luck, on ships the opposite was true. It was believed that black cats protected ships from bad weather.

Polydactyl cats (cats with extra claws) were especially prized because it was thought the extra claws gave the cat better balance, not a bad trait to have on a rolling ship.

Instead of a picturing a pirate with a parrot on his shoulder, maybe we should picture the pirate with a cat at his feet.