Unsinkable Sam

The board of cat Bismarck is said to have survived the sinking of three ships. In the German -speaking world, the ship's cat is mostly known under the name Oscar, in English it is also Unsinkable Sam ( German as " Unsinkable Sam" ) called.

Legend

The black-and- white spotted cat (more precisely, black with white chest and paws ) is said to have been found on board the battleship Bismarck, as this first the Hood sank and sank after a chase through the British fleet at May 27, 1941 itself.

In addition to only 118 survivors of almost 2100 crew members was, according to legend, most recently, the ship's cat "Oscar" of Bismarck rescued, with only the British name of the cat is preserved; as the cat was aboard the Bismarck, is unknown. The British destroyer HMS Cossack was no crew members, only the black cat on a board floating. Oscar was then the ship's cat of the destroyer, which was however already torpedoed on 24 October 1941, the German submarine U 563 and severely damaged, with 159 sailors died. All attempts to save the destroyer failed. The HMS Cossack had to be abandoned on 26 October and sank. Oscar survived and was taken to Gibraltar.

There he found his next station on the involved also in the sinking of the Bismarck aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal. Earlier attacked several times and repaired, was the HMS Ark Royal as happiness exemplary ship until she was torpedoed by Oscar on board when returning from a mission in Malta on November 13, 1941 by the German submarine U 81 and 14 November approximately 30 nautical miles from Gibraltar sank.

Oscar was rescued, only one sailor had lost his life, but this time was not allowed to serve on a ship his service in the Royal Navy who now suspected as a jinx hangover. He was then in the harbor master of Gibraltar office. Then he lived until 1955, in a sailor 's home in Belfast.

A custom built by Georgina Shaw -Baker portrait of cat ( " Oscar, the Bismarck 's Cat " ) is owned by the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, the painting has been published in black and white in the literature.