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Trim was a ship's cat who accompanied
Matthew Flinders Captain Matthew Flinders (16 March 1774 – 19 July 1814) was a British navigator and cartographer who led the first inshore circumnavigation of mainland Australia, then called New Holland. He is also credited as being the first person to u ...
on his voyages to
circumnavigate Circumnavigation is the complete navigation around an entire island, continent, or astronomical body (e.g. a planet or moon). This article focuses on the circumnavigation of Earth. The first recorded circumnavigation of the Earth was the Magel ...
and map the coastline of Australia in 1801–1803.


Biography

Trim was born in 1799 aboard the ship on a voyage from the
Cape of Good Hope The Cape of Good Hope ( af, Kaap die Goeie Hoop ) ;''Kaap'' in isolation: pt, Cabo da Boa Esperança is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula in South Africa. A common misconception is that the Cape of Good Hope is t ...
to
Botany Bay Botany Bay (Dharawal: ''Kamay''), an open oceanic embayment, is located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, south of the Sydney central business district. Its source is the confluence of the Georges River at Taren Point and the Cooks Ri ...
. The kitten fell overboard, but managed to swim back to the vessel and climb aboard by scaling a rope; taking note of his strong survival instinct and intelligence, Flinders and the crew made him their favourite. Trim sailed with Flinders on on his voyage of circumnavigation around the Australian mainland and survived the shipwreck of on
Wreck Reef The Wreck Reefs are located in the southern part of the Coral Sea Islands approximately east-north-east of Gladstone, Queensland, Australia. Approximately east of the Swain Reefs complex they form a narrow chain of reefs with small cays that ...
in 1803. When Flinders was accused of spying and imprisoned by the French in
Mauritius Mauritius ( ; french: Maurice, link=no ; mfe, label=Mauritian Creole, Moris ), officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about off the southeast coast of the African continent, east of Madagascar. It incl ...
on his return voyage to England, Trim shared his captivity until his unexplained disappearance, which Flinders attributed to his having been stolen and eaten by a hungry
slave Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...
.


Description

Trim was a bicolour cat, being black with white paws, chin and chest. He was named after the butler in
Laurence Sterne Laurence Sterne (24 November 1713 – 18 March 1768), was an Anglo-Irish novelist and Anglican cleric who wrote the novels ''The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman'' and '' A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy'', published ...
's novel ''
Tristram Shandy Tristram may refer to: Literature * the title character of ''The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman'', a novel by Laurence Sterne * the title character of ''Tristram of Lyonesse'', an epic poem by Algernon Charles Swinburne *"Tristra ...
'', because Flinders considered him to be a faithful and affectionate friend. During his imprisonment, Flinders wrote a biographical tribute to Trim in which he described him as "one of the finest animals I ever saw... isrobe was a clear jet black, with the exception of his four feet, which seemed to have been dipped in snow and his under lip, which rivaled them in whiteness. He had also a white star on his breast."


Legacy

Flinders wrote of Trim while still captive on the Isle de France in 1809. In 1996, a bronze statue of Trim by
sculptor Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...
John Cornwell was erected on a window ledge of the
Mitchell Library The Mitchell Library is a large public library and centre of the City Council public library system of Glasgow, Scotland. History The library, based in the Charing Cross district, was initially established in Ingram Street in 1877 following a ...
in
Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountains ...
, directly behind a statue of his owner that was erected following the donation of Flinders' personal papers to the Library by his grandson in 1925. The popularity of the statue has since led to the development of a range of Trim merchandise by the
State Library of New South Wales The State Library of New South Wales, part of which is known as the Mitchell Library, is a large heritage-listed special collections, reference and research library open to the public and is one of the oldest libraries in Australia. Establi ...
. The Library's cafe is also named after the cat. The plaque under it says: which is a part of the epitaph that Flinders had promised Trim. Trim also features on the first statue of Flinders to be erected in England, which can be found in
Donington, Lincolnshire __NOTOC__ Donington is a large village and civil parish in the South Holland district of Lincolnshire, England. It is north from the market town of Spalding on the A152, is bypassed by the A52, and sits between the A16 and A17. The parish in ...
, the birthplace of Flinders, and where it is planned that he will be reburied. In addition, a large bronze statue of Matthew and Trim stands at
Euston Railway Station Euston railway station ( ; also known as London Euston) is a central London railway terminus in the London Borough of Camden, managed by Network Rail. It is the southern terminus of the West Coast Main Line, the UK's busiest inter-city rail ...
in London, near where he was originally buried. A cast of the same statue is in
Port Lincoln, South Australia Port Lincoln is a town on the Lower Eyre Peninsula in the Australian state of South Australia. It is situated on the shore of Boston Bay, which opens eastward into Spencer Gulf. It is the largest city in the West Coast region, and is located ...
, and another cast of the same statue is also at the Flinders University campus in
Adelaide, South Australia Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The demo ...
. A smaller version is on display in
Lincoln Cathedral Lincoln Cathedral, Lincoln Minster, or the Cathedral Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Lincoln and sometimes St Mary's Cathedral, in Lincoln, England, Lincoln, England, is a Listed building, Grade I listed cathedral and is the seat of the Angl ...
. In Australian author Bryce Courtenay's 2002 novel, ''
Matthew Flinders' Cat ''Matthew Flinders' Cat'' is a 2002 novel by Bryce Courtenay (), published by Viking Press. It records the relationship between a homeless former lawyer and alcoholic, and a young skateboard riding boy with a troubled background, who slowly bond o ...
'', both the cat and the library statue feature as major characters.


See also

*
List of individual cats This is a list of famous cats which achieved some degree of popularity either in their own right or by association with someone famous. Before the modern era * Nedjem or Nojem ( Egyptian: ''nḏm'' "Sweet One" or "Sweetie"), 15th century BC. The ...


Further reading

* * * *


References


External links

{{wikisource, A biographical tribute to the memory of Trim
Trim the Ship's Cat







Trim the Cat. State Library of NSW

A biographical tribute to the memory of Trim / by Matthew Flinders ; illustrated by Annette Macarthur-OnslowFlinders, Matthew, 1774–1814
Individual cats Animal sculptures in Australia 1799 animal births Cat monuments