Oscar - the witness cat of 5 consecutive shipwrecks in World War 2

Oscar has been dubbed Unsinkable Sam after surviving two sinking ships.

The only witness cat of 5 ship sinks in a row

Oscar , an extremely famous cat for the German and British navies, is one of the few witnesses of three famous shipwrecks of World War 2 history on the European front: the Bismarck ship of Hai Nazi troops and 2 ships HMS Cossack, HMS Ark Royal of the Royal Navy.

Oscar picture hammock on board Bismarck in 1941.

First appearing on May 18, 1941, this black-and-white cat lies in the arms of a sailor of the Bismarck when he starts aboard to serve the campaign Rheinübung - the first mission. Bismarck's first and only ship. After a fierce naval battle, Bismarck was buried deep in the sea on May 27, 1941 and with it over 2,000 sailors, only 118 survived. At this time, Oscar, although he escaped death, had to float in the North Sea by clinging to a board, a few hours after Bismarck was sunk, a sailor of the destroyer HMS Cossack (Royal Navy) ) discovered Oscar and saved this cat's life.

Bismarkc warship before being sunk.

After boarding the Cossack, the Oscar was considered by the crew to be the ship's lucky mascot , though it did not seem to be effective when HMS Cossack was attacked by German submarine U-563 on the road. a freight train returned to England from Gibraltar (a British naval base in the Mediterranean) on October 24, 1941. The Cossack did not sink immediately, but most sailors were transferred to HMS Legion to continue their voyage, only 159 people stayed to steer HMS Cossack back to Gibraltar for repairs. However, bad weather ruined everything when the ship could not move and an explosion in the engine room pulled the ship into the sea with the entire crew. By some miracle, Oscar cats survived the event and drifted to the coast in Gibraltar.

HMS Ark Royal was sunk and Oscar survived.

Later, Oscar was named Unsinkable Sam and was taken to aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal. Here, the fortunes of the ship were no better than Bismarck and Cossack when he was sunk by German submarine U-81 on November 14, 1941, near the coast of Malta island. Fortunately, due to the slow sinking speed, the entire crew escaped death, Oscar was among them although this cat was lost from the rescue area. Later, the cruiser HMS Lightning picked up Oscar when it was discovered that "a strange object was rolling on the battleship debris" and Oscar was transferred back to the HMS Legion, which had once rescued. live Oscar. Strangely, the two Legion and Lightning ships were sunk in 1942 and 1943 respectively. Oscar even survived these two accidents!

Oscar picture, the Bismarck's Cat.

After floating on the sea, Oscar was brought to England by an officer to live. The last time this cat was recognized was a fisherman's house in Belfast (Northern Ireland) and Oscar died in 1955. A famous picture by Oscar artist Georgina Shaw-Baker, the Bismarck's Cat was displayed at the British Navy Museum (Greenwich) in memory of this famous cat.