Trim was the ship's cat who accompanied Matthew Flinders on his voyages to circumnavigate and map the coastline of Australia from 1801 to 1803. The first part of the book reproduces Flinders' own tribute to Trim, written while in captivity in the early 1800s, with added "friendly footnotes" to provide some background to Flinders' numerous literary allusions and nautical terms. Next the book discusses where Flinders was when he wrote his tribute and why, and what his letters and journals from that time tell us about his "sporting, affectionate and useful companion." Finally, we learn what Trim's views on all of this might have been, in a fun and fanciful observation on his premature epitaph.

A biographical tribute to the memory of Trim /Matthew Flinders RN -- Matthew Flinders: Trim's shipmate and bedfellow / Gillian Dooley PhD -- My seafurring adventures with Matt Flinders / Trim -- Timelines : the voyages of Matthew Flinders and Trim.