Posted by Owen Roberts on July 27, 2006 at 13:35:35 from 194.201.78.141 user OwenRoberts.
In Reply to: Re: Food fashions- squirrel casserole. posted by Adam Quinan on July 27, 2006 at 11:31:37:
Even earlier Naval novels mentioned "rat eating midshipmen". The Hornblower series by C.S.Forester was one such instance.
Rats provided a source of fresh meat for the lower deck seamen. This is always assuming the ship did not possess a ship's cat.
Perhaps Susan cooking a rat would have provided good training for John and Roger's future Naval careers. But by that time most RN ships did possess a cat even though it was strictly against Admiralty Orders.
The Admiralty view was that seamen would risk their own lives in trying to save the cat.
However this did not prevent a cat being aboard HMS Amethyst in the 1949 Yangtze Incident. The cat was wounded by Chinese shell fire.