Ship's Cat

Jenny liked it on the boat. She could go wherever she pleased, and it was huge. So many nooks and crannies to explore where squeakers liked to hide. Lots of luxurious spaces, warm and comfortable.

Most of the humans were pleasant to her, always ready with an ear rub or a kind word. She knew many of them by sight and smell.

She knew her job: to keep down vermin, and to soothe the sailors with her warm fur and rumbling purr.

She'd been aboard since she was a scrap of a young thing so the sounds and sensations of a ship out at sea were familiar to her. It actually felt a bit funny to be ashore on firm ground. The ship was her home, and she liked it there best.

In short, she was well-fed, well-liked, and knew her worth. Rarely was a cat ever more content.

When she grew fat with a belly full of kittens, the humans were delighted. Jenny was a proven mouser, and her kittens would surely be just as good as their seafaring mother. And cute, to boot.

Jenny, being a cat, could and did sleep wherever she fancied. But she had a favourite spot near the kitchens, where the people there often fed her scraps. One kitchen worker in particular was always kind to her, and she had a special liking for him.

When the humans scooped her up and moved her to a different boat, Jenny went with hardly a peep of complaint, despite that it was nearly time for her babies to be born.

Something was not right, and Jenny knew it, all the way down to her bones. Maybe she just didn't like the new boat as much as the old one? Whatever it was, Jenny did what any good mother-cat would do: she picked up her children, one by one, and carries them by the scruff of their necks until her whiskers told her this was a safe spot to set them down.

Jenny curled her body around the litter she was so proud of, and didn't even watch the Titanic leave the harbour.

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Word count: (excluding note): 366

Submitted on: 1st May at 23:16

*Quick Author's Note*

First, and most importantly: thank you for reading!

A Year of Stories: I'm writing a story every day this year. This one makes an 122 day streak since the 1st January. We are officially a third of the way in! I'm collating them all here.

If you'd like to lend your support to the other creators also on this story a day adventure:

Rachel Deeming

Gerard DiLeo

The story behind the story: There really was ship's cat called Jenny! She was the mascot for the Olympic before she was moved to the Titanic, and she kept down rats and helped morale. She did have kittens shortly after being moved to the Titanic while it was in Belfast.

The sad part: it's likely that she and her little family didn't make it, especially since she didn't have an owner as such who might have smuggled her onto a lifeboat. But there's another version of her story going around, where she gets her kittens off the ship before it leaves Southampton, and I liked that one better.

Prompts: My unofficial April Challenge (Fucked Up Fairytales) is closed now! But if you'd like some more prompts to get your creative juices flowing, I've linked to a list of prompts for April.

Thank you

Thank you again! Especially if you are one of the wonderful people who has been staunchly reading these daily scribbles since the start of the year. I see you, and appreciate you 😁

I do my best to reciprocate as many reads as possible. If you leave me a comment, that makes it much easier. I'm behind at the moment, but I am catching up!