Crisp Marty - Titanicat

T ITANICAT

Marty Crisp Illustrated by Robert Papp

S LEEPING B EAR P RESS

TITANIC WAS A SHIP AS BIG AS HER NAME. SHE WAS TEN STORIES HIGH AND FOUR BLOCKS LONG, A FLOATING CITY WITH HER OWN RESTAURANT, POST OFFICE, LIBRARY, SWIMMING POOL, SQUASH COURTS, GYMNASIUM, AND EVEN A TURKISH BATH. THE NEW SHIP CARRIED SOME OF THE WORLDS RICHEST PEOPLE, AS WELL AS POOR IMMIGRANTS FROM IRELAND, SWEDEN, NORWAY, CROATIA, BULGARIA, PORTUGAL, AND SYRIA AMONG ITS 2,228 PASSENGERS AND CREW. BECAUSE SHE WAS BUILT WITH WATERTIGHT COMPARTMENTS IN HER HULL, PEOPLE THOUGHT TITANIC WAS UNSINKABLE.

BUT THE HUGE OCEAN LINER HIT AN ICEBERG AS SHE STEAMED ACROSS THE NORTH ATLANTIC ON HER MAIDEN VOYAGE. IT WAS A MOONLESS NIGHTAPRIL 15, 1912WHEN THE SHIP SANK, TAKING WITH HER SOME 1,500 PEOPLE, A FORTUNE IN CARGO, AT LEAST NINE DOGS, AND, JUST POSSIBLY, A CAT.

AS FAR AS HISTORY WAS CONCERNED, TITANICS CATBECAUSE EVERY SHIP THAT SAILED IN THOSE DAYS HAD A CAT ON BOARDCOULD BE COUNTED AMONG THE DEAD. FOR 80 YEARS THE TRUE FATE OF THE CAT WAS JUST ANOTHER OF TITANICS UNSOLVED MYSTERIES, RESTING WITH THE RUSTING HULK ON THE OCEAN FLOOR.

THEN IN 1985, EXPLORER ROBERT BALLARD DISCOVERED THE LONG-LOST WRECK AND NEW INFORMATION BEGAN SURFACING. LIKE THIS STORY.

E very time Jim glanced to the side, there was the cat, flashing the tip of her tortoiseshell tail at him, all the way to the shipyard. Some claimed a tortoiseshell cat could see the future. Jim, himself, believed only that cats were lucky. His Da worked in the Belfast shipyard, so Jim knew all the lore about ships and their cats.

Jim reached the ship, rocking in its slip, towering above him. Its fresh black-and-white paint seemed to glow in the morning sun. Jim felt lucky to be crewing this beauty on her first voyage. It was his first voyage, too.

Jims eyes started with the four tall smokestacks, studying every detail as his gaze slowly traveled down to the dock. The same cat was sitting there on top of a piling. She jumped down and came towards Jim as if shed been waiting for him all along. It was a good omen for a cat to walk towards you. Jim was certain this was going to be a great trip.

He held out his hand. His Da said Jim had a way with animals. The cat rubbed against his knees as he tickled her soft fur.

Then the cat turned and disappeared into the open hatch on the side of the ship. A man in a blue uniform came up behind Jim. Did you see our cat?

Aye, I did, sir. Jim nodded at the ship. She just went inside.

Are you here to crew for the trials, lad?

Im signed on as cabin boy, sir. Names Jim Mulholland. Ill be going all the way to America! Jim couldnt keep the excitement out of his voice.

Welcome aboard. The man smiled and shook Jims hand. Im Chief Steward Latimer, and from this moment on, youre in charge of that fool cat.

Aye, aye, sir. Ill find old 4-0-1 as soon as I stow my gear. It was a long-standing superstition not to call a ship by name while it was being built. That could be unlucky. Every ship under construction had a number. This ship was 4-0-1, and the cat would be called likewise.

There were a lot of places to look for a cat on a ship four city blocks long. Jim searched from the compass platform on the boat deck to the boiler rooms at the bottom of the ship. The smell of fresh varnish was strong in the third class general room. But no cat.

Jims whistle echoed back to him under the glass dome of the Grand Staircase. But no cat.

Jim sighed with relief when he finally found the tortoiseshell on B-deck in Caf Parisian. Then he saw a kitten beside her.

So you have family! Its a fine job youve done, little 4-0-1.

Jim knelt and stroked each fluffy kitten: four new ships cats in all. This voyage would be lucky indeed.

Jim kept the little cat family in a box the next day as he polished chairs on A-deck. The sharp tang of sea air made him daydream about the great voyage to come. He had always wanted to go to sea and see faraway places. First there would be two weeks of fitting out and sprucing up, then the launch and the ships trials would begin.

Jim worked hard, keeping the cat family close at hand. Once the ship got moving, he noticed that 4-0-1 would slip in and out of the box, putting an end to mice scurrying through the galleys. She caught a rat in an oatmeal bin Jim had forgotten to cover in the third-class storage cupboard. It was lucky she was around, he suspected, to keep him from getting into trouble.

Jim filled the water tanks above the porcelain sinks in each third-class stateroom. Oh, Danny boy, the pipes, the pipes are calling, he sang as he worked. The kittens frisked to the lilt of the Irish lullaby, and the cat seemed to study Jim as he sang.

Jim was on the boat deck, swabbing it clean with a mop, when he spotted one tiny bold kitten venturing out of the box and ducking under a lifeboat. There was no railing where the lifeboats hung. What if the kitten fell overboard?

Jim squatted by the lifeboat and used his mop to pull the kitten back to safety. 4-0-1 watched it all with her mysterious green eyes. She began licking her baby clean as soon as Jim put it in the box, as if nothing had happened at all. But Jim always heard the rumble of her purr now whenever he came close.

So he was surprised when he stood at the rail, two days later, watching the ship dock in Southampton. The cat was not at her usual spot beside him. Her kittens were sleeping down below, in the box under his bunk, as theyd done during the eight days of practicing stops and turns and night running.

Have you seen 4-0-1? Jim asked the porters and the deckhands. No one had, and passengers were starting to come aboard.