Archaeology & History

Why does this 16th-Century illustration show a cat with a jetpack on its back ?

By T.K. Randall
May 5, 2024 ·  19 comments

Image Credit: CC BY-SA 4.0 Franz Helm / Laura Aydelotte We've seen quite a few illustrations of peculiar historical inventions over the years, but one that keeps cropping up is this drawing (above) of what appears to be a domestic cat with some sort of jetpack-type device strapped to its back.

The image appears in the works of Franz Helm - a 16th-Century artillery master who lived and worked in Germany and fought against the Ottoman Empire.

Today, he is perhaps best known for his written work and illustrations depicting various types of weapons and artillery systems including cannons, caltrops and explosives.

The image that tends to attract the most attention, however, is the infamous "rocket cat".

The cat in the drawing isn't actually wearing a jetpack - the object strapped to its back is in fact a basic incendiary device designed to set fire to enemy buildings.The idea behind it was that once the device was lit, the cat (which was taken from the enemy's town or castle), would run back home and hide in a barn or other building that would subsequently catch on fire.

There was even a version of the same idea using doves instead of cats.

While there have been some accounts suggesting that such a method was used during warfare, it remains unclear whether or not this was genuinely the case.

There were some quite obvious concerns that the behavior of cats was too unpredictable and that the animals could just as easily set fire to the same side's own buildings, tents and fortifications.

Suffice to say, the idea didn't catch on.

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Tags: Cat