Tale of a young sea cat

Not many cats can boast of having their life story appear in print, and even fewer of having a famous explorer as their biographer. Yet both of these distinctions can be claimed by Trim, who accompanied his master, Matthew Flinders, on several of Flinders' most important voyages.

Trim, according to Flinders, was born in 1799 on board HMS Roundabout, somewhere between the Cape of Good Hope and Botany Bay. Aboard this ship he sailed around the world to England where he joined the Investigator and then circumnavigated Australia aboard her between 1801 and 1803.

In August 1803 he was shipwrecked and accompanied his master, who was suspected of spying, into seven years of imprisonment on the French island of Mauritius. There Trim met his untimely end, probably in a pot belonging to some hungry slaves.

Trim's life story was recorded by Flinders while on Mauritius. Written in 1809, the biography remained unpublished among Flinders's papers in the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, England, and came to light only in 1971. It was first published two years later. Flinders' narrative concludes that Trim was 'the best and most illustrious of his race, the most affectionate of friends, faithful of servants, and best of creatures ... never will his like be seen again'.

A bronze statue of Trim by sculptor John Cornwell stands on a window ledge of the Mitchell Library in Macquarie Street, Sydney, Australia. The cat statue, unveiled in 1996, is very popular.