We have exciting feline news for all. We are honored to introduce Mahdee’s new ship’s cat, Beryl Skogkatt (Beryl or Berrie for short) to our friends, family, and the schooner-folk who follow our blog. Just like house cats are a wonderful part of many shore-based households, ship’s cats have always been good crew and an important part of life aboard sailing vessels.
Sitting on the chart table:
A close up:
As many of you are aware, I have had cats from the time I was a toddler; David and I have had cats for our entire married life. We’ve been blessed to have four long-lived cats: three Maine Coon Cats–as well as a cat of unknown origin who was suspiciously Norwegian Forest Cat-like. We’ve grown used to having these large and gentle cats around us. Our beloved ship’s cat, Beamer, passed away two years ago and we’ve been without a furry friend aboard the boat since then. When we began thinking about adopting another cat, we of course focused on Maine Coon and Norwegian Forest Cat breeds or mixes–though we really were thinking it would be nice to have a bit, shall we say “smaller” kitty aboard. We contacted a couple cat rescue groups near us and discovered the best of all kitties–a mix-breed two year old tabby female; petite for a MC but more the size and facial look of a NFC (lest we think she’s really petite, she weighs 12 lbs…but that is much smaller than our last, 22 lb Ships Cat, Beamer) and carrying that gentle and calm, people-oriented personality that we’d grown to love about both these breeds. We learned that she’s a bit under 2 years old and her family moved moving away and couldn’t take her with them. We were very happy to bring her aboard as the new ship’s cat.
We found that Beryl wasn’t answering to her old name at all. She would come running when I called “kitty, kitty” or clucked my tongue a certain way. Though we’ve adopted pre-named cats before and kept their names, we decided to re-christen this one. We thought about it for a couple days while we observed her character, form, and actions. A pretty cat with lovely long fur, she’s quite a graceful climber–and that does fit the Norwegian Forest Cat breed: Norse Legends refer to the Skogkatt as a “mountain-dwelling fairy cat with an ability to climb sheer rock faces that other cats could not manage.” Since the Norwegian Forest Cat is a very adept climber, many believe that the Skogkatt legends could be about the Norwegian Forest Cat. Many people believe that the ancestors of the Norwegian Forest Cat served as ship’s cats aboard Viking ships.
My desire was to give her a strong, seagoing name. The name of an adventuress. I pondered and then came to the realization that I should name this kitty after an iconic woman sailor known for epic cruises during her mid-life as well as impressive mountain climbing and solo adventure travel as a young woman and finally she was a woman who established a Canadian nature preserve in her retirement and re-introduced the swift fox to the wild there. Oh, yes, I would have loved to have met Beryl Smeeton. Our kitty is very pretty and I’ve seen pics of the pretty young Mrs Smeeton. Our kitty is perhaps a bit sweeter of nature than the fearless, adventurous, and practical Mrs. Smeeton was. A wonderful book High Endeavors: The Extraordinary Life and Times of Miles and Beryl Smeeton can be found on Amazon via our e-store A wonderful story about Mrs. Smeeton’s own ship’s cat, Pwe, is here. Beryl also wrote two amazing books about her travels alone: Winter Shoes In Springtime and The Stars My Blanket.
David and I decided that this was a sound and fitting name considering that Beryl is also the name of the mineral which is more commonly known as aquamarine, emerald, morganite and other jewel stones depending on color. Our kitty’s pretty eyes are an unusual aquamarine color. Seeking more information about the name, we googled it for baby names, and we learned that the meaning of Beryl is “light green semiprecious gemstone”; that beryl was considered a token of good luck; and that the eighth foundation stone of the wall of New Jerusalem was made of beryl. That all sounds really good to us–and thus, kitty became Beryl Skogkatt just today. We shall surely call her Beryl most times–and if she’s especially cute, perhaps Berrie will emerge as a term of endearment with her full name of Beryl Skogkatt reserved for more formal proceedings.
