Penarth Dock, South Wales - the heritage and legacy

Volume Thirteen - Pre-Victorian to the Present Day - even more aspects - Random Rants, Notes and Articles No.3 . . . .


Tusitala is a faithful old girl. She never mounted to the sublime heights of the clippers, was never very sensational, but has always been dependable. Built in 1883 by Robert Steele, she was launched as the Inveruglas. Later she was sold and became the Sierra Lucena, and while thus named made a passage from Penarth to Mauritius in seventy-six days. Some time after this she went under Norwegian registry as the Sophie. - The text is taken from an article published within 'The Rubber' magazine in its edition January to June, 1929, and was written by Paul Carlton who was a member of the crew. [1371] [716]

	Within the article Paul Carlton describes in detail his experiences during his voyage upon his 'faithful old girl', the 'Tusitala' which includes the following story of the ship's cats:- Most of the time we had heavy swells that tumbled us about unmercifully. One of our cats decided not to take any chances, so she rove herself through a ringbolt in the deck and slept there in safety. Poor Pussy! She gave birth to two kittens, and then a few days later was killed and partly devoured by two enormous rats. A relentless war on rats followed, but meanwhile we had two kittens deprived of sustenance. This would never do, so one old shellback adopted them, and by means of a whiskey bottle and the pointed stem of a corncob pipe, he managed to feed them, and they actually lived.