At the turn of the 20th century, the Brooklyn Navy Yard had a rat problem so severe that traps, poison, and even dogs had failed to solve it.
Then the cats arrived.
Within a few years, the rats began disappearing, government property stopped being chewed to pieces, and the yard’s feline residents earned the respect of the men who worked there. By 1901, officials had gone so far as to warn workers not to disturb the cats.
They cost the government nothing, were fed scraps by the workmen, and were credited with saving thousands of dollars in damage.
Among the most celebrated were Tom and Minnie, two black cats assigned to patrol the electrical department.
Cats In Navy
Probably the first official recognition ever taken of a cat as a regular member of the United States naval forces has been made by Naval Constructor Bowles of the Brooklyn Navy Yard, says the New York Times. He has intimated to the men under him that none of the cats which prowled about the yard are to be annoyed or interfered with in any way.
According to the workmen in the yard, this recognition of the cats is no more than their due. The cats do not cost the government a cent. They are fed by the men at the dinner hour, and come for the scraps of food saved for them at the various shops as soon as the bell sounds at noon.
In return for this they save Uncle Sam tens of thousands of dollars yearly by keeping rats and mice away from the sheds and shops.
Eight years ago there was not a cat to be seen anywhere about the Brooklyn Navy Yard. The place was overrun with rats instead.
The officials had tried all sorts of poisons and traps for years in an effort to get rid of the rats, but in vain. They seemed to make sport of the traps and to grow plump and sleek on the poisons.
The government’s outlay in its war on rats is said by the officials of the yard to have been considerable. Every year almost every dock in the yard needed overhauling to repair the places where it had been gnawed by rats, and the losses in rigging, spare sails and other stores were even greater.
About seven years ago, however, the first cat was allowed to enter the yard and the rats began to leave.
Previous to that, dogs had been brought into the yard in the hope that they might banish the rats, but the dogs were no match for the big, ferocious rats. They usually shirked an encounter and when the rats showed fight, fled from the yard in terror.
The cats, however, are more than a match for the biggest rats, and now there are more cats than rats in the place.
The oldest cats in the yard are Tom and Minnie, who do the policing of the electrical department. Large quantities of oiled silk and other insulating materials are kept there, and formerly it was impossible to preserve it from the rats. Ever since the arrival of Tom and Minnie, however, the oiled silk is safe from being gnawed.
Tom is a very large black cat, while Minnie, who is also black, is by all odds the smallest cat in the place. According to the workmen, she is the best ratter in the navy yard.
Source: The Silver Star. Dolores, Colo. March 1, 1901.
