ANIMALS OF THE TITANIC

Animals of the Titanic is a series about the animals that were in all probability on the Titanic when it sank and the three that survived. The Titanic encapsulates a long history of romance and tragedy. It was a dream that turned into a nightmare. Many stories about its passengers have been told. However upon visiting the Design Center of the Titanic in Belfast, Northern Ireland left untouched for many years to fall into a state of decay Leslie Hall Brown was taken aback by the forlornness of its uncared for and aged opulence. She imagined the dream of an unsinkable and grand ship and then looking about the debris she thought of rats and in turn cats, then dogs. It had never occurred to her that there might have been animals on this mighty ship. Surely there were rats and certainly in that era they would have kept mousers on board. Upon much research she found that of the known passengers there were twelve dogs listed. She would have thought more. One ship’s cat was known, and one passenger had four French roosters and four hens. Another few had canaries and cockerels and apparently various birds. There was a kennel on board and staff to walk the dogs but several small dogs stayed in the passengers’ rooms. She discovered that a then fourteen-year-old Titanic passenger was sure her father had transported his string of polo ponies. Many animals that met their fate on the Titanic will never be identified while some stories about others will never be confirmed or dispelled for certain.