oscar was the ship's cat of the german battleship "bismarck". when "bismarck" was sunk on 27 may 1941, only 116 sailors out of over 2,200 survived. oscar was picked up by the destroyer hms "cossack". "cossack" herself was torpedoed and sunk on 24 october, 1941. 159 sailors were killed, but oscar again survived to be rescued, and was taken to gibraltar. he became the ship's cat of hms "ark royal". then this ship, too, was torpedoed and sunk in november of 1941. oscar was again rescued, and it was decided that it was time for him to have a home on land. by now, oscar had been renamed "unsinkable sam." he was given a new job as mouse-catcher in the governor general of gibraltar's office buildings. he eventually returned to the uk and spent the rest of his life at the 'home for sailors'. a portrait of him hangs in the national maritime museum in greenwich.