Dispatches from Home – The Titanic Cat.

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Propelled by the Titanic’s grandeur, the glamour of its 1st Class passengers, and the immigrant dreams of those in steerage, everything from its rivets to its china patterns has been placed under the microscope. But what about the little bow-wows on board?

There were 12 canines on the doomed ocean liner, three of which survived. Those included a baby Pomeranian, whose owner wrapped her in a blanket and carried her into a lifeboat. The other two dogs were small, pedigreed pooches as well. All the dogs belonged to 1st Class passengers. The remaining nine dogs, confined in the onboard kennel, were larger. Someone, possibly a passenger, freed the dogs from the kennel as the ship was sinking. The agitated dogs ran up and down the listing deck, adding to the chaos—all died. As did one passenger who refused to leave her dog.

When Ann Elizabeth Isham was informed that her Great Dane could not get into the lifeboat with her, she climbed out of it. As passengers shouted and cried and the band played on, she and her dog stood on the slanting deck and awaited their fate. A few days after the sinking, her body was found by a recovery ship, clutching her beloved canine.

However, Jennie, the Titanic cat, saved herself.

She was the Titanic’s feline mascot, who helped keep the crew happy and the rat population under control. Her favorite spot was the ship’s galley, where she was fed on scraps from the kitchen. While the ship was being readied for her maiden voyage in Belfast, Northern Ireland, Jennie gave birth. But something in dear Jennie told her that all was not right with the great Titanic. One by one, she carried her kittens off the ship, taking them into a local warehouse.

Legend has it that Jim, Jenny’s unofficial caretaker on board, saw her leaving the ship with her kittens and saw it as an ill omen. (Sailors are notoriously superstitious.) He is said to have packed his grip and left the ship after seeing her!

Of course, this may be a tall tale, but I’d like to believe that a cat named Jenny saved her kittens and Jim as well from a watery grave.

(Originally posted April 3, 2021)

The Titanic’s Captain Smith, with his daughter’s Russian Wolfhound, Ben. The family pooch spent only one night on the ship before it left on its ill-fated maiden voyage.

A pod of pooches aboard the Titanic. Most likely, they all drowned.