The Cat and the Captain – New book inspired by Boston-area explorer

The cover art for the book, illustrated by former Grantham resident David Parkins.

The Cat and the Captain is a non-fiction account of the life of Matthew Flinders, the Donington-born Royal Navy explorer who led the first circumnavigation of Australia more than 200 years ago. Taking top billing, though, is Cpt Flinders’ faithful feline, Trim.

The book has been penned by Ruth Taylor, of London, and is aimed at children aged eight to 12 (and ‘curious adults’).

It takes readers from Cpt Flinders’ childhood in Donington; his fascination with Daniel Defoe’s adventure tale Robinson Crusoe which would inspire him to go to sea; his own adventures at sea, including the circumnavigation of Australia (with Trim), shipwreck on the Great Barrier Reef, and six-year imprisonment on Mauritius (during which Trim was sadly lost); and return to England, where he married, became a father, but died young, aged 40.

Author Ruth Taylor and her cat, Blackie.

Ruth, for a time, lived in Australia, where Cpt Flinders is a familiar historical figure, but inspiration for the book came as she worked on a separate one based on her own experiences at sea – in medicine.

“As a GP I worked on board cruise ships in my vacations from 2003 to 2015,” she said. “I started writing a memoir of my experiences. While researching the history of quarantine in the archive library of the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, I was handed Flinders’ original Biographical Tribute to the Memory of Trim.

“I was immediately captivated, not only by holding in my un-gloved hand Flinders’ very own handwritten elegy to his beloved pet from 1808, but by the eloquence of his writing, and the tragic fate of both Trim and his owner. As a doctor and a cat-lover I felt moved by their story.”

Further inspiration came with the recent discovery of Cpt Flinders’ lost remains as part of the HS2 rail project.

“I knew that I would have to write Trim’s story for modern children one day, but when Flinders’ remains were found I had to get on with writing both their stories and put my memoir on the back burner,” Ruth said.

* The Cat and the Captain is due for release in August (having been delayed from the original date of July 1) through www.littlestepspublishing.co.uk