Some discredit the story of this buoyant cat as being true, but it's an amazing story of survival that probably inspired hope in wartime. Oscar or Oskar in German as he became known, was a black and white cat who became the mascot on the German battleship Bismarck.
Out of a crew of 2.200, only 118 and Oscar survived the sinking on 27th May 1941. Rescued by the HMS Cossack, Oscar again survived another sinking on 24th October when the Cossack was torpedoed and 159 of her crew were killed. Lucky Oscar was rescued again and taken to Gibraltar where his next job was on the HMS Ark Royal that took part in sinking the Bismarck, but again, like the Cossack it was torpedoed and sunk.
Oscar, clinging to a floating plank, was now renamed Sam along with the the survivors and found. Rescuers described Sam as "angry but quite unharmed." After having survived three ships' sinking, "Oscar of the Bismarck" / "Unsinkable Sam" was transferred to a job on land hunting mice at the office buildings of the Governor General of Gibraltar. Eventually the lucky cat returned to the UK where he remained for the rest of his life at a "Home for Sailors" in Belfast until his death in 1955.
