page_title: Ship's cat
section_title: Blackie
hierarchical_section_title: Ship's cat / Famous Ship's Cats / Blackie
caption_attribution_description: Atlantic Conference August 1941: Churchill restrains 'Blackie' the cat, the mascot of HMS Prince of Wales, from joining the USS McDougal, an American destroyer, while the ship's company stand to attention during the playing of the National Anthem.
context_page_description: A ship's cat is a cat that rides along on a ship. Ship's cats have been very popular in history, and date back to ancient times.
  Cats have been carried on ships for many reasons - most importantly, to catch mice and rats. On a ship, these rodents can damage ropes and wooden parts of the ship. Once electricity was discovered, rodents would also damage ships' electrical wiring. Also, rodents threatened the ship's cargo - the things it carried. Rodents would eat the food carried to feed the crew. If the ship was carrying things like grain as part of its cargo, rodents could also cause the ship to lose money by eating the cargo. Also, rats and mice spread disease, which is dangerous for ships that are at sea for long periods of time. For example, rat fleas can carry plague, and rats on ships may have been one of the main reasons why the Black Death spread.
  Cats naturally attack and kill these rodents. Cats also have a natural ability to get used to new surroundings, so they could get used to serving on ships. They also offered companionship, a sense of home and security, and lifted sailors' spirits.
context_section_description: Blackie was HMS Prince of Wales's ship's cat.  He became famous during the Second World War.  Blackie's ship, Prince of Wales, carried Prime Minister Winston Churchill across the Atlantic Ocean to Naval Station Argentia in Newfoundland in August 1941.  There, Churchill secretly met with the United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and the two signed the Atlantic Charter.  But as Churchill started to leave Prince of Wales, Blackie came up to him.  Churchill bent down to say goodbye to Blackie, and the moment was photographed and reported in the world media.  In honour of the success of the visit, Blackie was renamed Churchill.  Blackie survived the sinking of HMS Prince of Wales later that year and was taken to Singapore with the survivors.  He could not be found when Singapore was evacuated the following year and nobody knows what happened to him (though there is a chance he may have died by then).
caption: Prime Minister Winston Churchill strokes Blackie goodbye, the ship's cat of HMS Prince of Wales, as he is about to cross the gangway to the USS McDougal DD-358, an American warship, during a ceremonial visit in 1941.
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