Trim, the Cartographer's Cat by Matthew Flinders

Author:Matthew Flinders
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781472967206
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 2019-12-16T16:00:00+00:00

Sailors do get time off. Matt thought this important. He organised dancing to the fife and drum on the forecastle on fine evenings and, as he puts it, ‘did not discourage other playful amusements which might occasionally be more to the taste of the sailors’.15 One of those was teaching me tricks. And as I have never minded being the centre of attention, a good time was had by all, with tasty little rewards on occasion.

Activities like leaping over hands or chasing a musket ball on a piece of twine or along the deck also provided opportunities to exercise and to practise the stalking, pouncing and leaping skills that are essential for rodent control. So what looks like play is actually work, and a pleasant way to socialise with shipmates and to stay on top of one’s game.

Doing my bit keeping the rats and mice down and out was one of my duties, and it’s true, as Matt remarks in the Tribute, that I was known for dashing after prey through thick and thin like a man of war. He knew he could always rely on my zeal in the hold and bread room to protect the ship’s stores. He had ordered 30,000 pounds of biscuit, 8,000 pounds of flour and 156 bushels of kiln-dried wheat, plus Indian corn as fodder for the sheep, pigs, geese and fowl, for the long voyage ahead circumnavigating Australia in the Investigator. I had to be indefatigable. Rats and mice would take one look and think this was an invitation to dine at a never-ending banquet.

I’m not going to claim any ratting records, but I like to think I brought to rodent control the same determined and methodical approach Matt brought to navigation and charting. I was very touched by his commendation in the Tribute that I ‘possessed a degree of patience and perseverance, of which few men can boast; and … that like a faithful subject, … employed all these estimable qualities in the service of His Majesty’s faithful servants, and indirectly of His Majesty himself’.

Incidentally …

Successful hunting is not hit and miss. The ratting record holders enhance their hit rate with these seven highly effective habits – although they are listed here in some sort of ranking order, all of them are important:

Seven Secrets of the Successful Hunter

Be prepared.

Plan ahead.

Be patient.

Persevere.

Be fit for the task.

Maintain a healthy life balance.

Practice makes perfect.

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