Ore carriers sit very low in the water when filled to capacity and, in a gale, water often washes over the main deck. With the hatch covers not secured (remember, the ship left port in clear weather and the storm blew up rather quickly), the waves breaking over the Edmund Fitzgerald saturated the cargo.
Medical Dictionary. cat. play. noun , often attributive \Ëkat\. Medical Definition of cat. 1: a carnivorous mammal (Felis catus) long domesticated and kept as a pet or for catching rats and mice. 2: any of a family (Felidae) of mammals including the domestic cat, lion, tiger, leopard, jaguar, cougar, wildcat, lynx, and cheetah.
Usage of the term tabby cat , which means one with a striped coat, began in the 1690s and was later shortened to tabby in 1774. The notion that tabby is indicative of a female cat may be a reference to the feminine proper name Tabby, as a shortened form of Tabitha.