Over 102 years in the past, everybody aboard a large schooner, The Carrol A. Deering, vanished with no hint off the coast of North Carolina. Everyone, that’s, besides a fortunate six-toed (polydactyl) cat discovered aboard. The thriller grew to become a nationwide obsession in 1921, however in spite of everything investigations, the reality nonetheless stays elusive. Now, the ship is known as the “Ghost Ship of the Outer Banks.”
Strangely, the schooner’s lacking crew sailed to and wrecked excessive on the notoriously treacherous Diamond Shoals, shifting sandbars known as the “Graveyard of the Atlantic.” The lethal sandbars are estimated to be chargeable for as many as 600 shipwrecks alongside the Outer Banks. Surely, the crew would have recognized.
Although there have been many doable explanations, from mutiny to pirates, the enduring thriller stays. The lifeboats had been gone, the ship’s log, and even the anchors had been lacking. One surviving relic in a resident’s home, the ship’s clock, reportedly began chiming on Aug. 22, 2021, the ship’s last voyage anniversary.
Ghost Ship of the Outer Banks through YouTube
A Lucky Polydactyl Ghost Ship Cat and Descendants
According to the Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum, the Ghost Ship cat’s descendants can nonetheless be discovered on Hatteras and Ocracoke Islands.
Residents in Hatteras say native polydactyl cats got here from the Ghost Ship’s solely recognized survivor.
“The survivor was a polydactyl (many-toed) cat who was brought home to Hatteras Village where she had many litters of kittens, and descendants of those cats live there today,” mentioned Elizabeth Browning Fox.
Browning Fox shared an image with a polydactyl cat, who she says is likely one of the descendants.
“My Aunt Mary had one of her descendants (many of the cats on Hatteras had extra toes then) named Sea Hag, who used to sit around sucking on her extra toes. Polydactyls are seen in the village even now. This is a photo my brother took of me holding a semi-feral poly from Hatteras,” she shared.
The Hatteras Island Ocean Center and Hatteras Village additionally confirmed the polydactyl cat residents, linking them to the well-known Hemingway Cats.
“We still have polydactyl cats on Hatteras Island descending from the survivor. They are found in ports around the world because ship crews considered them to be good luck to have on board. These are distant relatives of the famous Hemingway Cats of Key West,” they shared on Facebook.
A Friendly Ghost Cat on the Lighthouse
According to legend, the cat surviving within the Ghost Ship remains to be round, and never solely the cat’s dwelling descendants. Several vacationers reported seeing a pleasant cat on the Hatteras lighthouse, one that vanished.
“That six toed cat lived a comfy life on Cape Hatteras, that’s for sure. He sired a whole generation of polydactyl cats, and even today you can see feral felines around the island with six toes. There’s even one at the light. But you can’t check his toes. A black and white cat wanders around the light, rubbing ankles in a friendly way with whoever will stand still long enough. He or she is a good kitty, and seems affectionate enough, but if you go to try to pick up the kitty, it vanishes into a mist. Yes, a ghost cat wanders the land around the light. It is speculated that this is the original cat…rescued from the Deering long ago. A cat so lucky, even nine lives weren’t enough,” shared Did You See That?
Cape Haterras Lighthouse through Wikimedia Commons
Others suspect the pleasant ghost cat belonged to one of many lighthouse’s keepers. There are additionally many human ghost tales across the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse.
Video in regards to the Carroll A. Deering by Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum:
Sailors Saw Black and Polydactyl Cats as Good Luck
Sailors considered adopting black and particularly polydactyl cats pretty much as good luck.
“Cats eat rodents, which can cause damage to ropes and also get into the ship’s food storage. A ship’s cat also created a sense of companionship to sailors who were away from home. Polydactyl cats were considered EXTRA lucky and assumed to be better at catching pests, probably because of the EXTRA digit. Did you know that the only form of life found on the ghost ship, Carroll Deering, was a polydactyl cat? Here kitty kitty,” shared the museum.
Image through Facebook/Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum
Similarly, a lot of our readers will know in regards to the beloved Hemingway Cats, descended from a cat named Snow White, a polydactyl ship cat gifted to the writer by a ship’s captain.
See extra in regards to the story of the Carroll A. Deering’s unusual stroy by Big Old Boats:
