SIMON THE STOWAWAY CAT

British Royal Navy sloop HMS Amethyst was sent to keep order during the civil war on the Chinese mainland in 1949. A rat infestation had been making life on board unpleasant, so when 17-yearold Ordinary Seaman George Hickinbottom saw a scrawny tom cat (right, with another sailor) at the docks in Hong Kong, he smuggled it aboard. The cat became a favourite with the crew and his ratcatching skills proved second to none. The captain, Lieutenant Commander

Bernard Skinner, was won over too and the pair often made rounds of the ship together. Simon repaid the captain’s kindness with ‘gifts’ (dead rats, dropped at his feet or left on his bed) and when the captain wasn’t wearing his cap, Simon could be found curled up in it, sleeping. In April of that year, the Communists opened fire and 19 of the crew were killed, including the captain. Simon eventually staggered onto the deck and was taken to the sick bay, where shrapnel was removed from his legs and back. He not only pulled through – he was soon back to work on the rats.