# Q. about rodent control on sailing ships **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 9, 2014, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-rodent-control-on-sailing-ships/680878 "2014-02-09T03:31:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2014, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-rodent-control-on-sailing-ships/680878/1 "2014-02-09T03:31:16Z")
Old-time sailing ships were overrun with rats. A ship’s cat or two were often kept to try to keep the rodents down; but rats and mice presumably had numerous places they could hide where a cat couldn’t follow. Were ferrets ever tried at sea to keep the rat population down? ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2014, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-rodent-control-on-sailing-ships/680878/2 "2014-02-09T03:41:20Z")
Yes, they were. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2014, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-rodent-control-on-sailing-ships/680878/3 "2014-02-09T03:46:12Z")
Yep. From this site: [http://open-site.org/Recreation/Pets/Ferrets/History/](http://open-site.org/Recreation/Pets/Ferrets/History/) > [@](#): > > In addition, early ferrets were preferred as rodent hunters on sailing ships, as the nooks and crannies were too small for cats. Another cite: “Bitten: True Medical Stories of Bites and Stings” By Pamela Nagami > [@](#): > > They were kept onboard sailing ships to control rodents and were the official mascots of the colonial navy of Massachusetts (first book cite I could find on a google search) ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2014, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-rodent-control-on-sailing-ships/680878/4 "2014-02-09T13:29:47Z")
So why were they presumably not very effective? ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2014, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-rodent-control-on-sailing-ships/680878/5 "2014-02-09T15:39:20Z")
Numbers, perhaps? ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2014, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-rodent-control-on-sailing-ships/680878/6 "2014-02-09T17:30:19Z")
Short rations helped: “…they had been eating rats this last month and more, rats caught in the bowels of the ship by the captain of the hold and laid out, neatly skinned, opened and cleaned, like tiny sheep, in the orlop, for sale at a price that rose week by week, to reach its present shocking rate of fivepence a knob.” Patrick O’Brian, ‘H.M.S. Surprise’ (1973) ---
**Author:** ![abel29a](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ebca7d/32.png) [@abel29a](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/abel29a)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2014, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-rodent-control-on-sailing-ships/680878/7 "2014-02-09T18:43:28Z")
I’ve always wondered how so many ships became contaminated by vast rat populations: One would think [rat guards](http://books.google.no/books?id=Jd5EfVMvOV8C&pg=PA174&lpg=PA174&dq=rat+guards+for+mooring+lines&source=bl&ots=dQR_MSvDgl&sig=UMmvJ3VNgn0xROD9TU8WX7fj8gA&hl=en&sa=X&ei=ocv3UumaAqS9ygOD0oGACg&ved=0CGEQ6AEwCg#v=onepage&q=rat%20guards%20for%20mooring%20lines&f=false) would prevent direct ingress? Or did rats generally stow away in cargo being loaded, undetected? ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2014, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-rodent-control-on-sailing-ships/680878/8 "2014-02-09T22:07:08Z")
> [@abel29a](#): > > I’ve always wondered how so many ships became contaminated by vast rat populations: One would think [rat guards](http://books.google.no/books?id=Jd5EfVMvOV8C&pg=PA174&lpg=PA174&dq=rat+guards+for+mooring+lines&source=bl&ots=dQR_MSvDgl&sig=UMmvJ3VNgn0xROD9TU8WX7fj8gA&hl=en&sa=X&ei=ocv3UumaAqS9ygOD0oGACg&ved=0CGEQ6AEwCg#v=onepage&q=rat%20guards%20for%20mooring%20lines&f=false) would prevent direct ingress? Or did rats generally stow away in cargo being loaded, undetected? All it took was for a few (or even one male-female pair) to get aboard and then they would have a limitless food supply due to all the stores being kept in cloth sacks and wooden barrels and crates. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2014, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-rodent-control-on-sailing-ships/680878/9 "2014-02-09T23:25:07Z")
Are rats still an issue on ships? I mean, I’m sure they would be without taking measures but with modern rat guards and poisons and food storage, etc should I expect to find rats on a modern cruise ship or navy vessel or freighter? I realize that the standards for a cargo container laden freighter are likely different than those for the _S.S. Tropical Cruise_. Tried to Google but just got a bajillion hits for that debunked “Ghost ship with a million rats” story. Then tried “-ghost” and got a bunch of “Like rats fleeing a sinking ship…” stories about whatever company the author wanted to schadenfreude about. ---
**Author:** ![Mk\_VII](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mk\_VII](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mk_VII)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2014, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-rodent-control-on-sailing-ships/680878/10 "2014-02-09T23:58:00Z")
You can see an anti-rat guard on the bow lines in this photo I took in the 1980s. [http://www.fototime.com/491AFDD67D98397/standard.jpg](http://www.fototime.com/491AFDD67D98397/standard.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2014, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-rodent-control-on-sailing-ships/680878/11 "2014-02-10T00:09:54Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > All it took was for a few (or even one male-female pair) to get aboard and then they would have a limitless food supply due to all the stores being kept in cloth sacks and wooden barrels and crates. Actually 50% less rats required then your absolute minimum, all it took is 1 rat, a female that recently had sex. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2014, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-rodent-control-on-sailing-ships/680878/12 "2014-02-10T01:15:08Z")
I’ve noticed that several cruise ships I’ve been on or been near at piers do not use rat guards on their bow lines, or only on some despite every line appearing to enter the hull. Some have rat guards but they’re installed with the aperture up so there’s a nice rat passageway. This always surprises me. I wouldn’t think it mattered where a rat got on board, but that it got on board at all. ---
**Author:** ![Chickenwrangler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chickenwrangler/32/91_2.png) [@Chickenwrangler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chickenwrangler)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2014, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-rodent-control-on-sailing-ships/680878/13 "2014-02-10T01:36:15Z")
So in the old days when ships were infested with rats and the ship was wrecked in the middle of the ocean, would you be competing with rats for any floating debris to cling onto? :eek: What if there was a floating wood door full of rats would you be able to fight your way on? :eek: :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2014, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-rodent-control-on-sailing-ships/680878/14 "2014-02-10T05:57:57Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > Are rats still an issue on ships? I mean, I’m sure they would be without taking measures but with modern rat guards and poisons and food storage, etc should I expect to find rats on a modern cruise ship or navy vessel or freighter? I realize that the standards for a cargo container laden freighter are likely different than those for the _S.S. Tropical Cruise_. I didn’t see any on my ship, but maybe Chibley (the ship’s cat) was earning her keep.