Teaching our cat Trim to swim in the Caribbean
When we adopted our cat Trim I deliberately named him after explorer Matthew Flinder's cat Trim - who served on board the ship HMS Reliance on a voyage from the Cape of Good Hope to Sydney's Botany Bay. Trim the kitten, fell overboard, but managed to swim back to the ship and climb up the rigging. Because of this, Flinders and the crew treasured him over other cats on board.
Trim was born in 1799 and died in 1803 when he was allegedly eaten by a hungry slave.
There is a plaque at the Mitchell Library of NSW saying:
"TO THE MEMORY OF
TRIM
The best and most illustrious of his race
The most affectionate of friends,
faithful of servants,
and best of creatures
He made the tour of the globe, and a voyage to Australia,
which he circumnavigated, and was ever the
delight and pleasure of his fellow voyagers
Written by Matthew Flinders in memory of his cat
Memorial donated by the North Shore Historical Society"
So we adopted our kitten Trim two years ago and named him thus because we aspire to sail around the world one day:
And one week ago we moved to Belize in the Caribbean. So in order to make our Trim - more Matthew Flinders' "Trimlike" - we took him swimming yesterday - see video below:
I am creating a YouTube channel for Trim&Salem to accompany my Facebook page and our PracticalCats product pages at link:
Wow, there's something you just don't see every day! He doesn't look too terrified, though... and I guess if he's going to be a ship's cat, it's best to make him familiar with that wet stuff.
=^..^=
Unfortunately on his second expedition to the water I didn't have a leash on him and some kids spooked him and he ran away. We have been searching for him for the last five days - mornings and evenings around the pier and setting cat traps to get him.