Simon's Story Simon was a black and white cat, neutered male, serving aboard HMS Amethyst when the so called Yangtse Incident erupted in 1949. He'd been handed over as a kitten to the vessel's commanding officer, Lt Cdr Griffiths, a year earlier and was a much loved sight on the ship. Sailors would always be passing him tasty titbits and he had the freedom of any berth. His rat-catching abilities quickly became legendary and his shipmates would pass the time on a long voyage placing bets on how many dead rats he could produce in a day. Then the crisis at Nanking boiled up with the feared army of Red China sweeping aside all resistance which crossed its path. The Chinese captured the Yangtse below Nanking and Amethyst was immediately ordered in to protect and evacuate British citizens in the area. Simon was to find himself in the midst of one of the greatest ever naval adventures. As the Amethyst steamed upriver she came under fire from Chinese batteries on both banks. The ship was struck several times and finally limped on to a sandbank in midstream. When the guns at last fell silent, 54 of her crew were lying dead, dying or seriously injured. One of the shells had come down on the captain's quarters while Simon was inside. The captain died instantly, but amazingly the cat struggled out of the mangled cabin with head and leg injuries and some surface burns. He crawled into a hiding place to lick his wounds and many of the ship's crew believed he had quietly gone to find a place to die. A few days later he emerged and was soon back to his old rat-catching tricks. This cheered the crew greatly as scores of rats, flushed out by the bombardment, had begun taking over the ship and were causing an enormous health hazard. Over the next 3 months, Simon played a crucial part in helping to keep up the morale of the men. The Chinese had apparently ruled that the ship should not be destroyed but held prisoner until the right diplomatic conditions were in place for its release. As the wrangling continued, life aboard the Amethyst was fast becoming unbearable. The weather had been sweltering for weeks, oil stocks were running low and food was becoming fetid. Faced with the choice of staying put to die by disease or risking the guns, the new commander, Lt Cdr Kerans, decided to make a run for it. With his engines and hull patched up he headed back downriver under cover of darkness to escape into the South China Sea. When Simon and his shipmates arrived back in Hong Kong they were given a hero's welcome. The little cat's fame had, by now, been reported around the world and he was showered with presents from a personal fan club. His story though ended on a note of sadness. Simon returned with Amethyst to Plymouth for a refit and was taken into quarantine. Three weeks later he was dead, perhaps because he had never fully recovered from the trauma of battle. To this day Simon remains the only cat ever to have won the Dickin Medal - the animal equivalent of the Victoria Cross. It was presented to him posthumously on 13th April 1950 for his "meritorious and distinguished" service by the Lord Mayor of Plymouth.