The Royal Navy destroyer Cossack rescued a cat in the aftermath of the Bismarck sinking. The feline, who became known as Unsinkable Sam, is said to have survived two more sinkings before he was retired to a sedate life of relative luxury. (WIKIMEDIA)

In defence of cat ladies, and gentlemen: The tale of Unsinkable Sam and other seafaring felines

STORY BY STEPHEN J. THORNE

Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action. —Ian Fleming

One of the epic sea battles of the Second World War, the Battle of the Denmark Strait, was over. HMS Hood was at the bottom of the sea; a wounded HMS Prince of Wales was limping back to port. The German battleship Bismarck, disabled by a relentless barrage from British ships and aircraft, had been scuttled and sunk.

It was May 27, 1941, and after eight days and multiple torpedo strikes from Swordfish biplanes of the Fleet Air Arm, along with more then 400 hits from Royal Navy guns, just 114 of Bismarck’s 2,200-plus crewmen would survive.

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Major General Isaac Brock met with Shawnee chief Tecumseh in Amherstburg, Ont.

The Siege of Detroit

STORY BY ALEX BOWERS

On Aug. 13, 1812, Major-General Isaac Brock arrived at Fort Malden. There, intent on reinforcing the garrison near Amherstburg in present-day Ontario, the British commander of Upper Canada was greeted by the sound of gunfire.

The din of musket shots came not from the American side of the Detroit River, where 59-year-old U.S. General William Hull was now on the defensive after a failed invasion of Canada launched a month earlier, but were the weapons of Indigenous allies led by Shawnee Chief Tecumseh.

Discharged into the air, it was meant to be a welcome.

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