Cats on Boats

[Janice]

Not that we would bring our cat onto our boat, but.... Someone told me that it is unlucky to have a cat on a boat, is it? Does anyone know where that myth comes from?

[quo vadis]

Don't know about cats but rabbits are supposed to be unlucky when my daughter was younger she took her rabbit to see her grandfather who was going off long shore fishing he swore at her and refused to go off that day. Don't know why though

[Janice]

I thought you were going to say that he ate the rabbit. Superstitions are odd aren't they.

My dad used to blame me if he lost on the horses, if I came into the room while the race was running, not sure if I got the credit if he won

[Hockham Admiral]

I don't know who told you that, Janice, but cats have been welcome onboard since the times of the Pharaohs. They were both companion and rat/vermin catcher until perhaps more recent times! 

[MauriceMynah]

I believe it's thought fairly unlucky if you have a Tiger onboard. More than that I wouldn't like to say!

[Hylander]

Until recently we had a narrow boat near to us and they certainly had a lovely cat on board called Paquita.   She soon got to grips with the fact that if you went in the water you got wet and struggled to get back out again.     She was quite a character at the Marina.   Certainly kept the ducks and geese at bay.   Do miss her.

[ranworthbreeze]

I noticed whilst on the Swancraft website that dogs were allowed but not cats?

 

I am not much of a cat lover, but they always end up coming up to me.

 

Regards

Alan

[Mowjo]

My Siamese cat Boz! always used to come out on the boat with us and was well know at Wayford Marina! he was a house cat but due to having been let down by our Cat sitter we took him with us one weekend, we kept him shut in but he managed to get out, I spent hours looking for him only to find him a few boats down where the owners had been feeding him treats, he never ever went far from the boat but would hide around 4pm Sunday just when we were leaving for London, he got to know every boat that would feed him and if I called his name one of the owners would shout back he's on here eating/sleeping, when we went out he would just sit up by the windscreen watching the world but for some reason when we moored up he wouldn't even try to leave the boat, we did get back once and Mike the owner of Wayford was laughing his head off and told me someone had complained about Boz, the guy that complained claimed the cat was terrorising his two little dogs, turned out Boz would go the other end of the marina get on the guys boat and walk around it making his dogs nervous and making them bark, well yap!, I think Boz had a thing about dogs because another guy had a German Shephard that he kept on a long chain while he was working on his boat, Boz knew exactly how long that chain was to the inch and would creep up behind the dog and just sit there, the dog would turn around see Boz and go mental running at him full pelt until the dog ran out of chain nearly breaking it's neck, I swear I saw that cat laugh, even the owner thought it was funny because Boz did it every time the dog was there and no matter how long a chain he put the dog on Boz would be two inches out of range, we certainly had some good laughs with that cat and if we ever left him at home everyone would be asking where he was, when I was re-fitting the boat out Boz would often move on to someones boat for a few days,,

 

Frank,,,,  

[Janice]

We have four cats, all rescue cats, and we miss them when we are away, especially the newest one who we adopted last year because he is a real cling on, he follows us everywhere and so I know he must miss us when we are not at home. Our grown up children look after them so we are lucky.

Not sure I would risk taken any of them with us - Thomas our second oldest cat likes water, he likes having a shower and so he may just jump in which would be a bit scary for us.

Steve who has Pearl Anchor told us it's unlucky to have a cat on the boat, or was it Kevin can't remember but it was one of them.

Jan

[Mowjo]

Here you go Jan!   Most of them say Black Cats are the luckiest, and it depends if your a sailor of fisherman but in general Cats are considered lucky on Ships/Boats all over the world,,

The ship's cat has been a common feature on many trading, exploration, and naval ships, and dates back to ancient times and considered good luck. Cats have been carried on ships for many reasons, the most important being to catch mice and rats. These rodents aboard a ship can cause damage to ropes and woodwork. Also, rodents threatened the stores the ship carried. Rodents may devour the foodstuff carried to feed the crew, and could cause economic damage if the ship was carrying grain or similar substances as part of its cargo. Rats and mice were also sources of disease, which is dangerous for ships that are at sea for long periods of time. For example, rats are carriers of plague and it is believed rats on ships were one of the main spreaders of the Black Death. Cats naturally attack and kill these rodents.The natural ability of cats to adapt to new surroundings made them suitable for service on a ship. They also offered companionship and a sense of home, security and camaraderie to sailors who could be away from home for long periods, especially in times of war.

Cats are not popular animals in fishing communities,
taken as a whole. In certain villages on the east coast
of Scotland if fishing had been bad the fishermen used
to say: "We must have met a cat this morning."

[Hockham Admiral]

The ship's cat has been a common feature on many trading, exploration, and naval ships, and dates back to ancient times and considered good luck. Cats have been carried on ships for many reasons, the most important being to catch mice and rats.

 

Posted Today, 10:02 AM

I don't know who told you that, Janice, but cats have been welcome onboard since the times of the Pharaohs. They were both companion and rat/vermin catcher until perhaps more recent times!

 

Snap, Mowjo.................  :cry

[Mowjo]

I'm more worried by this one,,,

1. No Bananas On Board

Bananas have long been thought to bring bad luck, especially on ships. At the height of the trading empire between Spain and the Caribbean in the 1700's, most cases of disappearing ships happened to be carrying a cargo of bananas at the time.

Coincidence? Perhaps. Another theory suggests that because bananas spoiled so quickly, transporters had to get to their destination much quicker. Fisherman thus never caught anything while bananas were on board. Another danger caused by monkey's favourite fruit fermenting so quickly, was that in the heat of the storage hull, bananas would produce deadly toxic fumes.

A final theory on the perils of bananas at sea (though there are tons) is that a species of deadly spider would hide inside banana bunches. Their lethal bite caused crewman to die suddenly, heightening the fear that banana cargo was a bad omen.

[Janice]

The deadly spiders sound like the real reason for the bad luck, death's not great eh lol if your planning a trip, it's nice to be able to get there alive lol.......

Jan

[Mowjo]

Jan! the Spiders on my boat are so big they are more likely to kick you to death rather than bite you! I have two smallish ones that live inside my windscreen wiper blade on the boat, I call them George and Georgina, I hate spiders but refuse to kill these two, I won't even put the wiper on because it destroys their little webs, I sat there one day for over four hours watching Georgina making her little web and afterwards I thought all that work she put into it I didn't have the heart to destroy it, yea I know I'm a saddo and the worst part is that if they come out,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,I talk to them,,,, 

[Janice]

Ha ha that's funny. Power to you for being so kind.

I don't mind spiders, we live in a thatched cottage and so have got used to creepy crawlies over the years. The Hertfordshire Hairy Spiders are huge, when the run across the floor you could almost mistake them for mice.

The cats think they are yummy though as a starter!

I have only seen small spiders on our boat, we cleaned the canopy this week and probably made a lot of them homeless, next time I will collect them as I now know of a good home for them, your boat.

Jan

[Mowjo]

Jan! I'm fine with Spiders as long as they don't move towards me, I have no idea where the fear of them came from, guess I picked it up somewhere as a kid, I'm getting better and if they are dangling on a thread I can put them outside, but if they move up the thread I'm off,  and you saying about Cats, when we lived in London we used to get those big lanky spiders a lot, Boz would get them in his mouth and walk up to you with spiders legs hanging out, then look at you and crunch, that Cat had a real evil streak,,

[donnygeoff]

cats on board...

google .... unsinkable sam.... at least the cat was lucky

 

 

[JawsOrca]

Our cat Silvester has never been off the pontoon (except in a basket to the vets), we rescued him when the neighbour moved to another boatyard and he was too worried he wouldnt take to bankside mooring (and get run over by a nearby road).

 

I always understood that cats are a must on (larger) boats as they are meant to keep rats at bay, although here they are probably the size of him plus he would probably would probably just play with them! 

[Janice]

OMG not keen on rats, not seen any on the Broads (yet...!). The cats caught one home a while back, we back onto a farm that they are changing the barns into homes - I think the rats were evicted and so tried to come to us. With four cats it was not the wise thing to do really lol.

They bring rabbits home the same size as themselves, swaying from side to side with the weight of the rabbit. Sometimes they are alive, especially the baby ones, we usually put them back into the field to let them get away.

[MauriceMynah]

Re Spiders.... Get a bowl of conkers.

Re Cats....      Little ones fine, Big ones less so.

Re Bananas... The freight companies really slipped up there.

Re Rats...       If you see one swimming, remember it's probably a vole. Much sweeter altogether.

Re spiders on threads... They are fine, but they do tend to keep changing the subject.

Re Cats bringing home rabbits... Didn't you bring your friends home to play?

Re this post...   Probably best ignored. 

[Mowjo]

JTF! get your coat now!

[Janice]

Can't ignore it

Steve (sidestand) has conkers on his boat to get rid of spiders but they are still there. So not sure that works, have you tested it out?

Rabbits, I don't think you would kill and eat your friends when you get fed up with them, well I hope not anyway .

Jan

[SueH]

Hi - we don't have a cat now, so have never had one on a boat. 

 

Living a stones throw from the K&A Canal there are a lot of liveaboards in the area quite a few of them having cats.  The animals appear to be content and we never hear of them straying.  I think if they are started early they are fine.

 

SueH