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Based on this: Emmy was the ship's cat on the RMS Empress of Ireland. She was an orange tabby cat who never missed a voyage. However, on May 28, 1914, E
by junto 13y ago
Based on this:
Emmy was the ship's cat on the RMS Empress of Ireland.
She was an orange tabby cat who never missed a voyage.
However, on May 28, 1914, Emmy tried to escape the ship.
The crew could not coax her aboard and the Empress left
without her. She was reportedly last seen on the roof of
the shed at Pier 27, watching her ship sail out of Quebec
City.[citation needed] Early the next morning the Empress
collided with the SS Storstad while steaming through fog at
the mouth of the St. Lawrence river and rapidly sank,
killing over 1,000 people.
I have decided to disembark any ship when the cat leaves.
The article also led me to a Wikipedia page about the Dicken Medal [1], which is fascinating.
The PDSA Dickin Medal was instituted in 1943 in the United
Kingdom by Maria Dickin to honour the work of animals in
war.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dickin_Medal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dickin_Medal
- mherdeg 13y agoA number of pigeons have won the Dickin Medal, according to the enthusiastic literature we picked up at Bletchley Park the weekend before last.
- belorn 13y agoPlease, what number of cats did not leave the ship before a fatal voyage? Before one start to worship cats as some divine creates that can foretell the future, maybe some critical thoughts are in order.
- nathannecro 13y agoTwas a joke methinks. It's also an old sailor's superstition. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sailors%27_superstitions#Cats https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sailors%27_superstitions#Cats
- sscalia 13y ago^^^ typical hacker news reply, everyone
- kjs3 13y agoYou must be a real joy at parties.
- junto 13y agoIt seems that you and four others share my sense of humour. One doesn't. I can live with that ratio. :-)
- lotsofmangos 13y agoSilence Heretic! You dare to question Chairman Miaow?
- gwern 13y agoI've read that your pun is unnecessary as 'mao' already can mean 'cat' in Chinese.
- Houshalter 13y ago>Please, what number of cats did not leave the ship before a fatal voyage? That actually doesn't matter too much. As long as the cats which do leave the ship is a predictor of disaster. Even a slight correlation, say 1%, would be useful; do you want to take a 1% risk to your life? Maybe buy an extra lifeboat or something? Of course, the prior probability of this hypothesis is pretty low, but it isn't to superstitious people.
- gruseom 13y agoJust like a cat to save itself after years with the crew. I like that touch. It adds credibility.
- trhway 13y agothe cat was trying to show the crew that they shouldn't go (the cat could have just run away, with no chances for "coaxing", etc...). The crew just didn't listen. > She was reportedly last seen on the roof of the shed at Pier 27, watching her ship sail out of Quebec City. yep.
- gruseom 13y agoI apologize to the cat for my slander.