Ship's cat
Felix was the ship's cat aboard Mayflower II when she set sail from Devon, England, to Plymouth, Massachusetts, in 1957.  The goal of this voyage was to show cooperation between the UK and the US after World War II. Felix was given his own life jacket for the trip.  During the voyage, he broke one of his paws. The paw was set by the ship's doctor.  After Felix returned to the US, photos and stories about him appeared in National Geographic magazine, Life magazine, and Yankee magazine. The cat and the rest of the crew marched in a New York ticker tape parade and toured the East Coast that summer. Felix was eventually adopted by the cabin boy's girlfriend, Ann Berry, and settled in Waltham, Massachusetts. The captain of the Mayflower II wrote a children's book about Felix called Felix and his Mayflower II Adventures. The book was published during the celebration of the ship's fiftieth anniversary at Plimoth Plantation.