Unsinkable Sam (also known as Oskar or Oscar) is, according to a probably exaggerated story, the nickname of a ship's cat who purportedly served during World War II with both the

Kriegsmarine The (, ) was the navy of Germany from 1935 to 1945. It superseded the Imperial German Navy of the German Empire (1871–1918) and the inter-war (1919–1935) of the Weimar Republic. The was one of three official branches, along with the a ...

and the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

and survived the sinking of three ships.

History

The cat's original name is unknown. The name "Oscar" was given by the crew of the British destroyer HMS ''Cossack'' that rescued him from the sea following the sinking of the German battleship ''Bismarck''. "Oscar" was derived from the International Code of Signals for the letter 'O', which is code for " Man Overboard" (the German spelling, "Oskar", was sometimes used, since he was a German cat).

''Bismarck''

The black-and-white-patched cat was supposedly owned by an unknown crewman of the German battleship ''Bismarck'' and was on board the ship on 18 May 1941 when he set sail on

Operation Rheinübung Operation Rheinübung ("Exercise Rhine") was the sortie into the Atlantic by the new German battleship and heavy cruiser on 18–27 May 1941, during World War II. This operation to block Allied shipping to the United Kingdom culminated wit ...

(German for Rhine Exercise), ''Bismarck''s only mission. ''Bismarck'' was sunk after a fierce naval battle on 27 May, and only 115 of her crew of over 2,100 survived the engagement. Hours later, Oscar was purportedly found floating on a board and picked from the water by the British destroyer HMS ''Cossack''. Unaware of what his name had been on ''Bismarck'', the crew of ''Cossack'' named their new mascot "Oscar".

HMS ''Cossack''

The cat served on board ''Cossack'' for the next few months as the ship carried out convoy escort duties in the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on ...

and

North Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the "Old World" of Africa, Europe a ...

. On 24 October 1941, ''Cossack'' was escorting a convoy from

Gibraltar ) , anthem = " God Save the King" , song = "Gibraltar Anthem" , image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg , map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe , map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green , mapsize = , image_map2 = Gibr ...

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

when she was severely damaged by a

torpedo A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, and with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, s ...

fired by the . Crew were transferred to the destroyer , and an attempt was made to tow the badly listing ''Cossack'' back to Gibraltar. However, worsening weather conditions meant the task became impossible and had to be abandoned. On 27 October, a day after the tow was slipped, ''Cossack'' sank to the west of Gibraltar. The initial explosion had blown off one third of the forward section of the ship, killing 159 of the crew; however, Oscar survived this, too, and was brought to the shore establishment in Gibraltar.

HMS ''Ark Royal''

Now nicknamed "Unsinkable Sam", the cat was soon transferred to the

aircraft carrier An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and facilities for carrying, arming, deploying, and recovering aircraft. Typically, it is the capital ship of a fleet, as it allows ...

, which coincidentally had been instrumental in the destruction of ''Bismarck'' (along with ''Cossack''). However, Sam was to find no better luck there, and when returning from

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It li ...

on 14 November 1941, this ship was also torpedoed, this time by . Attempts were also made to tow ''Ark Royal'' to Gibraltar, but the unstoppable inflow of water made the task futile. The carrier rolled over and sank 30 miles from Gibraltar. The slow rate at which the ship sank meant that all but one of the crew could be saved. The survivors, including Sam, who had been found clinging to a floating plank by a

Motor Launch A Motor Launch (ML) is a small military vessel in Royal Navy service. It was designed for harbour defence and submarine chasing or for armed high-speed air-sea rescue. Some vessels for water police service are also known as motor launches. ...

and described as "angry but quite unharmed", were transferred to HMS ''Lightning'' and the same HMS ''Legion'' which had rescued the crew of ''Cossack''. ''Legion'' would itself be sunk in 1942, while the ''Lightning'' would be sunk in 1943. The loss of ''Ark Royal'' proved the end of Sam's shipborne career. He was transferred first to the offices of the

Governor of Gibraltar The governor of Gibraltar is the representative of the British monarch in the British overseas territory of Gibraltar. The governor is appointed by the monarch on the advice of the British government. The role of the governor is to act as the ...

and then sent back to the United Kingdom, where he saw out the remainder of the war living in a seaman's home in

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdom ...

called the "Home for Sailors". Sam died in 1955. A pastel portrait of Sam (titled ''Oscar, the Bismarck's Cat'') by the artist Georgina Shaw-Baker (1860–1951) is in the possession of the

National Maritime Museum The National Maritime Museum (NMM) is a maritime museum in Greenwich, London. It is part of Royal Museums Greenwich, a network of museums in the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site. Like other publicly funded national museums in the Unite ...

in Greenwich.

Historicity

Some authorities question whether Oscar/Sam's biography might be a " sea story", because – for example – there are pictures of two different cats identified as Oscar/Sam. The sinking of ''Bismarck'' and rescue of a limited number of survivors took place in desperate conditions. Pointedly, there is no mention of this incident in

Ludovic Kennedy Sir Ludovic Henry Coverley Kennedy (3 November 191918 October 2009) was a Scottish journalist, broadcaster, humanist and author best known for re-examining cases such as the Lindbergh kidnapping and the murder convictions of Timothy Evans and ...

's detailed account of the sinking, suggesting that information later gleaned from sailors regarding the cat's true service were

apocryphal Apocrypha are works, usually written, of unknown authorship or of doubtful origin. The word ''apocryphal'' (ἀπόκρυφος) was first applied to writings which were kept secret because they were the vehicles of esoteric knowledge considered ...

History

''Bismarck''

HMS ''Cossack''

HMS ''Ark Royal''

Historicity

See also

References

Further reading