Everyone knows the tragic story of Titanic, which has been memorialized in story and film. Lately there’s been a resurging interest due to the release of James Cameron’s Titanic in 3-D and the passing of the ship’s 100th Anniversary on April 14th. There’s something fascinating about the ship and its story, but there’s an untold story about the dogs on board. Because they were counted as cargo, there’s no official list of all the pooches that boarded, but twelve are known to have sailed with the ship and all of them belonged to first class passengers.

Dogs on the Titanic

A girl named Margaret Hays sailing aboard the ship, age 24 at the time, grabbed her Pomeranian, Lily, before jumping on a lifeboat. One passenger commented, “I suppose we ought to put a life preserver on the little doggie too.” These two lucky passengers survived to tell the tale.(dog walking services nyc)

Though Captain Edward Smith’s dog, Ben, was rumored to have been on board Titanic at the time she sank, he was actually at Smith’s home in Southampton. The fortunate pup, did get to spend the night on the ship before it took off yet, because he was actually a gift from Benjamin Guggenheim to Smith’s daughter, Ben went home.
There are sad stories too, of course. Unfortunately, some like Kitty, John Jacob Astor’s Airedale terrier, went down with the ship along with her owner.

Clearly, however, the bond between human and dog was equally strong on the Titanic and if you’re interested, all of this and more is available at the Widener Art Gallery at Widener University in Chester, Pennsylvania. Everything in the exhibit comes from the personal collection of curator and Titanic scholar, J. Joseph Edgette. He has created his own “pet manifest” to follow the dogs that took Titanic’s voyage.
Check out more information on the exhibit on the gallery’s website!

Source: Info and main image via philly.com, two body images via Atlas Obscura