Clear Sailing, Little Chibley

Chibley, the polydactyl sea cat, shows off her extra toes while taking a bath on board the Picton Castle.


I had the pleasure of discovering the story of Chibley after having a discussion about cats who go to sea and why so many of them are polydactyl, which means they have a genetic condition which blesses them with extra toes. Many people are familiar with polydactyl cats as "Hemingway Cats". Hemingway loved these big footed felines and the story goes that he obtained his first polydactyl cat as a gift from a sea captain in Key West. There is still an abundance of these cats in Key West and along the east coast...supposedly because they were brought to shore on ships from England and Wales. They have always been popular and considered lucky as ship's cats and a discussion with a sea captain as to why this is so disclosed the following two reasons: he said 1) they are excellent mousers because of the extra dexterity of their paws and 2) they have better balance on ship because their larger feet give them a bigger platform to stand on at sea.

Well Chibley is a polydactyl cat with quite a story. She was the ship's cat for the tall ship, Picton Castle for almost 15 years. Miss Chibley Bits (her full name) was a member of the Picton's crew from the beginning, embarking on its first world voyage in 1997 after she adopted the ship's Captain, Dan Moreland. She logged over 250,000 sea miles and sailed around the world five times.

The Picton Castle was built in 1928 and was named after a real castle in Pembrokeshire Wales. It was built as a fishing trawler, then used in WWII by the Royal Navy as a minesweeper. It was brought back to life in 1997 under Captain Moreland and now travels around the world as a working tall ship, conducting sail training voyages. It is based in Lunenburg, Novia Scotia. You can sign up to become part of the crew for 4 or 6 months, or as little as two weeks. They will be starting a new Atlantic voyage next year and will be stopping in Charleston, SC...probably for Harborfest.


Chibley would be given free range to go ashore when the ship would come into port and then almost magically show up to get back on board ship shortly before sailing. But last November on a dark stormy evening in Lunenburg, Chibley was stuck and killed by a car while she and the Captain were trying to cross the street in front of the Captain's house in order to board ship. A funeral and elegy was held for Miss Chibley

Chibley resting with Robert on board the Picton Castle not long before her death. What a great life she had and what a great pleasure she was to many others.

and Captain Moreland wrote in his log: "It is also easy for us to attribute too many human qualities to a cat and suggest that she was more human than cat but I think the reverse is more likely the truth-she was pure cat and her influence on her shipmates was that she turned them into more cat-like souls" He added "people say we could have been more careful, but then they didn't know Chibley. Chibley did as she wished-and so did you." I find these words to be some of the wisest ever spoken on why cats are so special. At Chibley's funeral, Captain Moreland summed it up..."Well she lived as she chose and she sailed a course on the track of her own making. Would that we could say the same." A picture of another polydactyl cat (not Miss Chibley) that really shows some extra toes.