From Mother Nature Network's Russell McLendon:
The Titanic sank into the North Atlantic 100 years ago this Sunday, killing more than 1,500 people in what remains the most famous shipwreck in modern history. And after being recounted, researched and re-enacted for generations, a trove of information has emerged about the ship, the iceberg, the victims and the survivors.
But at least a dozen Titanic passengers have received far less attention over the past century. As a new centennial museum exhibit reveals, roughly 12 dogs were onboard the Titanic on April 15, 1912, all pets of first-class passengers.
"There is such a special bond between people and their pets. For many, they are considered to be family members," exhibit curator and Widener University historian J. Joseph Edgette said in a recent news release. "I don't think any Titanic exhibit has examined that relationship and recognized those loyal family pets that also lost their lives on the cruise."
At least nine dogs died when the Titanic went down, but the exhibit also highlights three that survived: two Pomeranians and a Pekingese. As Edgette told Yahoo News this week, they made it out alive due to their size — and probably not at the expense of any human passengers. "The dogs that survived were so small that it's doubtful anyone even realized they were being carried to the lifeboats," Edgette says.
The three canine survivors of the Titanic were:
Only first-class passengers brought dogs on the Titanic, Edgette tells Yahoo, and most were kept in the ship's kennels. A few stayed in their owners' cabins, however, and the others were released from their kennels while the ship was sinking, according to Titanic Stories, an informational website produced by Ireland's tourism bureau.
Several dogs that died were never identified, and Edgette admits there may have been even more onboard than we know. But there is information about some of the Titanic's canine casualties, including a fox terrier named "Dog," an Airedale named "Kitty" and a French bulldog named "Gamin de Pycombe." One passenger, 50-year-old Ann Elizabeth Isham, reportedly refused to leave the Titanic without her Great Dane, which was too large to put in a lifeboat. Isham's body, along with her dog's, were later found floating at sea by recovery ships, Edgette says.
Some passengers who left their pets at least received some consolation in the form of insurance payments, however. William Ernest Carter of Philadelphia, for example, had insured his children's King Charles Spaniel and Airedale for $100 and $200, respectively, and later received settlements back on land.
There are stories of other animals on the Titanic, too, but none are confirmed. One rumor suggests passenger Edith Russell brought her pet pig, but Titanic Stories contends it was actually a toy, not a real pig. Ships often carried cats to control rat populations, and Edgette notes that at least one cat (and her kittens) rode the Titanic from Ireland to England prior to its final voyage. But that cat supposedly disembarked before the ship left for New York, carrying all her kittens to the pier — a decision later attributed to "some sort of premonition," according to Edgette.
The centennial Titanic exhibit will run through May 12 at Pennsylvania's Widener University, which is named after an affluent local family that lost two people on the Titanic. Held in the school's art gallery, the exhibit features information and artifacts from a wide array of Titanic passengers, both human and canine.
Also on HuffPost:
Animal Tracks - Remembering the 12 dogs aboard the Titanic
The Canine Casualties of the Titanic Disaster | NewsFeed | TIME.com
Dogs of the Titanic: a Dozen Aboard, Three Survived - Yahoo! News
Remembering the dogs of the Titanic | MNN - Mother Nature Network
Remembering the dogs aboard the Titanic
Titanic, 100 Years Later: Cultural, Culinary Items Went Down with the Ship
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Posted: 04/12/2012 4:10 pm