Remembering The Dogs of The Titanic!
Did you know there were at least 12 dogs aboard the Titanic? April 15th marks 102 years after the notorious “unsinkable ship” struck an iceberg in the north Atlantic, sinking on its maiden voyage to America. It is suspected that many more than just 12 dogs were on board that day, but because they were recorded as part of the ship’s cargo, most details have been lost.
It has been said that Titanic had excellent kennel facilities and had even planned a dog show for April 15th, the very day that the ship went down.
While the world is remembering the tragic events of April 15th, take a moment with us to honor and remember the dogs of the Titanic.
As reported by Yahoo! News, of the 12 confirmed dogs on the Titanic, only 3 were survivors of the shipwreck –all 3 being small dogs, 2 Pomeranian and 1 Pekingese, easily hidden inside a blanket or coat and carried into the limited space on lifeboats.
One of the surviving Pomeranians named Lady, bought by Miss Margaret Hays while in Paris, shared the cabin with and was wrapped in a blanket by Miss Hays when the order was given to evacuate the ship. The Rothschilds owned the other Pomeranian, and the Pekingese, named Sun Yat-Sen, was brought on board by the Harpers of the N.Y. publishing firm, Harper & Row.
The ship’s captain, Capt. Smith, has been seen photographed on board Titanic with his dog, a large Russian Wolfhound named Ben. However, Ben only spent one night on the ship, before it left the dock, and was returned home to Capt. Smith’s daughter.
In a particularly touching account, 50-year old passenger Ann Elizabeth Isham, was said to have visited her Great Dane in the ship’s kennels daily. At one point, Isham was seated in a life boat, but when told that her dog was too large to join her, she exited the boat. Her body was found several days later, holding onto her dog out in the icy waters.
Only the passengers of first class were allowed to bring dogs on board the ship. A few of those passengers were Helen Bishop, and her Toy Poodle named Frou-Frou, millionaire John Jacob Astor and his Airedale named Kitty, Robert Daniel and his French Bulldog, Gamin de Pycombe, William Carter and his family brought along two dogs – a King Charles Spaniel and an Airedale, Harry Anderson was joined by his Chow-Chow, and many other 4-legged passengers who remain unknown.
It is unimaginable being a part of any of this terrible tragedy, and even harder to imagine having to make the decision to leave your dog when the ship began to sink… What would you have done?!
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