Sue and Jim Collins share a boat moored at Hebe Haven with 14 cats. They have lots of feline stories to tell. Darkman is the Collins family hero. This black and white character, named after Alec Baldwin’s film, fell over board in a storm.
Sue takes up the story: “Darkman is intelligent, but clumsy for a cat. He has poor balance. During a storm he fell off the boat. Next morning he wasn’t there.” Sue and Jim rowed around looking for Darkman on other boats and the shore. No Darkman. “I felt he would come back,” Sue said.
A month later Jim was on deck when he spotted a cat sitting on a rock on the shore near the boat. It was Darkman who had got himself as close to the boat as he could without swimming. Jim rowed a dingy to the rock and picked up Darkman. Back on the boat Jim gave him two cans of cat food. Sue said, “He was very thin, no marks, nails worn right down.” Jim said Darkman was probably swept some distance from the boat by an out-going tide. He survived a typhoon and a month later — to the day — found his way back to the boat. Darkman is still living with the Collins family on the 72 ft catamaran. “Now he is careful not to go near the side.”
All 14 of the cats can swim, the Collins say. “They ended up in the water a lot as kittens.” When the cats fall over the side they know to swim around to the stern and climb up the back steps. Old cats, sensing their time will soon be up, sit on the lowest step gazing across the water, ready to die. A 24-year-old cat called Woofie did that. One day he was gone.
How did the Collins acquire so many felines to share their boat? Sue used to feed feral cats hanging around the Hebe Haven Yacht Club. At one time she was feeding 15. The HHYC Committee did not approve and suspended the Collins’ membership for three months, she said. “In Australia, they would have given us a medal.” Sue kept up the feeding. Someone began poisoning the animals and a mother cat died, so Sue moved five kittens to the catamaran. All are still members of the Collins family.
During BUZZ’s visit only one cat, Kuching, was friendly with the stranger, rubbing against his legs. Kuching once belonged to the HHYC waiter Eugene. After Eugene moved flat, his new landlord would not allow Kuching to live inside. It was okay to leave Kuching in the corridor in a cage, the landlord said. Eugene thought this was cruel so asked Sue and Jim to look after Kuching. “He was quite wild when we got him. Not neutered. He peed everywhere and the boat stank,”Jim said. Now Kuching is a picture of the well-adjusted cat.
The Collins’ boat has twin 72 ft hulls plus the linking structure, so there is plenty of room for everyone. Each cat has its special place of refuge. In summer they rarely sleep together, but in winter the couple finds as many as seven cats cuddled up on their bed. We asked about the cost of looking after so many animals. Sue said, “The lady at Happy Paws next to the Bank of China gives us very good discounts on cat food and litter.”
Jim, an engineer, said he built the catamaran himself over three years, after making a lot of money building jack-up piers in Saudi Arabia. This construction with two workers was done at Hope Island on the Gold Coast. Then he sailed the boat to Darwin and Bali, where he chartered it. “That was hard work.” The corruption demands were tough to deal with. On he sailed to Singapore, Myanmar and Malaysia before arriving in Sai Kung 26 years ago. The Collins are happy here and plan to stay.
BUZZ asked Jim and Sue how they met. Sue burst out laughing and said, “You couldn’t print it!”
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