Trim was a ship's cat that accompanied Matthew Flinders on his voyages to circumnavigate and map the coastline of Australia in 1801-03.
Trim was born in 1797, aboard HMS Reliance on a voyage from the Cape of Good Hope to Botany Bay. The kitten fell overboard, but managed to swim back to the vessel and climb aboard by scaling a rope; taking note of his strong survival instinct and intelligence, Flinders and the crew made him their favourite.
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Trim was a ship's cat that accompanied Matthew Flinders on his voyages to circumnavigate and map the coastline of Australia in 1801-03.
Trim was born in 1797, aboard HMS Reliance on a voyage from the Cape of Good Hope to Botany Bay. The kitten fell overboard, but managed to swim back to the vessel and climb aboard by scaling a rope; taking note of his strong survival instinct and intelligence, Flinders and the crew made him their favourite.
Trim sailed with Flinders on HMS Investigator on his voyage of circumnavigation around the Australian mainland, and survived the shipwreck of the Porpoise on Wreck Reef in 1803. When Flinders was accused of spying and imprisoned by the French in Mauritius on his return voyage to England Trim shared his captivity until his unexplained disappearance, which Flinders attributed to his being stolen and eaten by hungry slaves.
Trim was black, with white paws, chin and chest. He was named after the butler in Laurence Sterne's Tristram Shandy, because...
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