Simon of HMS Amethyst: The Cat Who Earned the Dickin Medal Under Siege

He was not supposed to be on the ship. He was seventeen months old and had been smuggled aboard HMS Amethyst in the Yangtze River by a sailor who knew the rules and brought him anyway. His name was Simon. He was a black and white cat. He weighed three pounds.

On April 20, 1949, Communist artillery opened fire on the Amethyst. Twenty-five sailors were killed. Simon was blown across the ship by the blast. When the crew found him, he was burned, badly wounded, and his whiskers were gone.

The Yangtze Incident

The British frigate HMS Amethyst was sailing up the Yangtze River in April 1949 to relieve another ship stationed at Nanking. China was in the final stages of its civil war. Communist forces controlled the north bank of the river. Nationalist forces held the south.

The shelling was sudden and sustained. The ship was severely damaged. The captain was mortally wounded. Twenty-five sailors died in the initial attack. The Amethyst was trapped, unable to move, under fire, for 101 days.

What Simon Did During the Siege

Simon recovered from his wounds faster than anyone expected. Within weeks he was moving through the ship. He resumed his previous duties: hunting rats in the hold, which had become a serious problem after the attack disrupted normal operations. He visited the sick bay daily, moving between the wounded men and sitting with those most seriously hurt. He slept in the captain's quarters. He held what the crew described as a daily inspection of the ship.

The crew credits him with helping maintain morale through the 101-day siege. The ship's official log noted his conduct as first-class and his service to the ship as very good.

The Breakout

On July 30, 1949, the Amethyst made a nighttime run down the Yangtze under fire, escaped the blockade, and reached the open sea. Simon was aboard. He had survived the entire siege.

On his return to England, he was awarded the Dickin Medal, the highest military honor available to animals in the UK. He was also promoted from Ordinary Seacat to Able Seacat. He died on November 28, 1949, in quarantine in England at around two years old. The wounds from April had done long-term damage that never fully healed.

He is buried at the PDSA Animal Cemetery in Ilford, England. His grave still receives flowers.

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Sources

• Wikipedia — Simon (cat)
• PDSA — Dickin Medal: Simon
• Imperial War Museum — Simon the Brave Cat of HMS Amethyst
• History.com — Simon the Cat of HMS Amethyst
• BBC News — Simon: The ship's cat who earned a war medal

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