Unsinkable Sam was the nickname of a German ship's cat that saw service in both the Kriegsmarine and Royal Navy during the Second World War. He served on board three vessels and survived the sinking of all three. He would paddle away or float away on pieces of wood.
The black and white cat first embarked on the Bismarck, which incidentally was the ship’s first and only mission. After an intense sea-battle, the Bismarck sank. Hours after the sinking, Unsinkable Sam was seen floating on a wooden plank and picked up out of the water by a survivor of the ship.
Next, Sam tagged along on the HMS Cossack for a few months. The HMS Cossack was hit by a torpedo and the crew was transferred to another ship with Sam in tow. Finally, he was transferred to the HMS Ark Royal. It too was torpedoed and sank in the Gibraltar Strait. He was picked up off of a floating plank again and decided to retire from sea voyages.