EMMY, the ship's cat
Emmy of the Empress of Ireland
The story of Emmy of the Empress of Ireland is my favorite out of all the famous cats tales. It's quite odd and tragic (well...not for Emmy) and I find it fascinating.
Whether it was luck or premonition Emmy avoid certain death (and used up one of her 9 lives).
Hope you enjoy it!
Image from
Emmy
Emmy was an orange tabby cat living on the ship "RMS Empress of Ireland". She never missed a voyage and lived on the ship for several years. That was until May 1914.
The ship docked in Quebec City port and Emmy became restless. She tried to leave the Empress of Ireland several times and eventually managed. The story goes that she watched the ship, her home for several years, sail away from the top of a roof on pier 27.
The empress of Ireland
Photo from en.wikipedia.org
The Empress of Ireland
Did Emmy know?
As the Empress of Ireland sailed away from Quebec City Emmy watched it for the last time.
It was 28th May 1914. The ship was travelling to Liverpool in England and carried 1,477 passengers and crew. It was the first trip in command of a vessel down the St Lawrence river for captain Henry George Kendall.
On the early hours of 29th May 1914, only a few hours after leaving the port, the ship travelled in heavy fog in the channel near Pointe-au-Père. At 02:00 local time, the Norwegian collier SS Storstad crashed into the side of the Empress of Ireland. The collision resulted in the death of over 1000 people.
The dead bodies were later taken to the same place where Emmy watched the vessel sail away: pier 27.
Lucky cat?
Did Emmy have a lucky escape or did she feel that something wasn't right? We all know animals are generally very sensitive to sever weather, earthquakes and other natural disaster, but in this occasion it was just fog...
Could Emmy sense that something wasn't right, did she know?
