No Owl, but Pussy Cat Went to Sea in Chill Boat

The cargo container that arrived from Taiwan had one import too many.

A scrawny, blue-eyed cat traveled about 6,000 miles and spent more than three weeks at sea in a chilly corner of a container shipped to a Mt. Vernon warehouse.

The black cat was christened Hanjin for the name of the Korean shipping line painted in huge white letters on the container’s side. The cat was found last month by Steve Wells, who owns Mobile Merchandisers Inc., when he opened the steel box to unload a shipment of display stands.

“All of a sudden, it was up there staring at me,” Wells said. “I said, ‘What do we have here?’ ”

Wells fed the frightened animal a bit of dried doughnut and water. He closed up the container and returned the next day with cat food. Hanjin grabbed a few bites, then stole farther back into the container. Warehouse manager Bob Stickle carefully emptied the container, box by box, to expose the cat’s hiding place.

Veterinarian Gary Johnson, wearing thick welder’s gloves, carefully plucked the cat from its nest of shredded cardboard at the container’s far end.

“Just a baby, aren’t you?” Johnson said, cradling it in his arms. He took the cat to his Highland Animal Clinic, where it was given food, water and a hot pad to sleep on.

“She’s doing OK so far,” said Mary Emmett, a veterinary technician. “I’m surprised she’s doing so well. Poor little thing.”

Wells’ wife, Darcy, who owns and operates an adjoining import wholesale company, said she may keep Hanjin as an official warehouse cat.