Page 36 - Chiron Calling Autum 2021/Spring 2022

from the sailors most of the island’s animals were shot during the World War II amid fears that the more dangerous ones (which included several big cats) would escape in the intense bombing Portsmouth received.
One reason that the topic of animals in naval service may not have been analysed historically
is their appears to have been a reluctance to reveal aspects of maritime life that expose weakness. With the rugged masculine self- image of sailor’s, animals were often the only tolerated objects of affection sailors were not secretive about showing. Seafaring animals played important emotional roles on long, gruelling, monotonous, dangerous voyages plagued by uncertainty. Sailors were out at
sea for months or years at time, so pets were important de-stressors. Sharing and caring for these animals was important as it gave sailors practical things to do
during hours of boredom and this responsibility further installed discipline and other foundations that a sailor and ship function by.
As well as the Navy the Merchant
Sailors from the British ship HMS Amethyst playing with Simon. Photo: courtesy maritime quest
Marine in WWI and WWII was closely associated with the navy,
as such naval crews, especially gunners frequently were station on merchant transport ships. Many merchant ships also had mascots or naval sailors soon brought them onboard.
Apart from the cat, goats have a long associated with the navy as a source of food because they were smaller than cows and less picky about their own food. But as food supply to ships improved, goats transitioned to pets. The first goat
to attend the Army-Navy game,
after a midshipman recruited one named “El Cid” off the USS New York to attend a 1893 match, the tradition stuck. Bill the Goat” is
still an official mascot of the U.S. Navy, although the animal (or
rather, one of his successors) stays ashore nowadays and represents the officers playing the field during the Army-Navy football game. Currently, U.S. navy ships are goat-free. Along with other animals, they were banned. One captain who ignored regulations and kept a three-year- old pygmy goat named Charlie on board his missile cruiser apparently lost his job in the spring of 2015.
MEMORIALS AND AWARDS
Simon was the first decorated cat in British military history. He served on the British Royal Navy sloop HMS Amethyst, which was trapped on the Yangtze River for three months after being attacked by the People’s Liberation Army during the Chinese Civil War in 1949. The brave cat was awarded the prestigious Dickin Medal for surviving injuries, killing off a rat infestation, and raising the crew’s morale.
One of the most famous stories here in the U.S. is that of Sinbad, a Coast Guard mascot that served in World War II. Sinbad was a mixed-breed dog that served aboard USCG Campbell, a 327-foot vessel that defended American convoys during World War II. Following a 1943 U-boat attack that almost sank Campbell, Sinbad became a media
Sinbad and his fellow crewmen on the deck of USCG Campbell, 1943
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