Until 1975, British law required ships to have a cat aboard. It wasn’t just the Brits who had mousers. On the Great Lakes, many ships, both salties and lakers, had cats as part of their crew. Mice were considered pests aboard a ship, raiding kitchens and biting through ropes and sails, so in my new novel, Eliza Jane isn’t surprised to find Meowgaret aboard the Snowdon.
Since cats weren’t pets, but an official part of the crew, they had their own passports issued by the Captain of Port or other person in charge of a naval dockyard. Meowgaret (and her passport) maybe fictional but she represents a long line of sea cats sailing around the world on the seven seas.
The first passport and caption are from the website https://www.truthorfiction.com/sea-cats-and-passports/. The second passport was created by author.
