Unsinkable Sam and the Navy's Other Ship's Cats

From Matthew Flinders' cat Trim, who circumnavigated Australia in 1801, to Unsinkable Sam, who survived the sinkings of the battleship Bismarck, HMS Cossack, and HMS Ark Royal within six months in 1941, ship's cats served — and died — alongside their crews for nearly the entire history of naval warfare. This episode traces the tradition from its origins in rodent control and shipboard superstition through USS Maine, HMS Prince of Wales, and Simon of HMS Amethyst, the only cat ever awarded the Dickin Medal, to the Royal Navy's 1975 ban that officially ended it. Dale and Christophe ask what these animals actually meant to the sailors who served with them.