I’m reading Gilded Lives, Fatal Voyage by Hugh Brewster, which is primarily about the first-class passengers on the Titanic. A number of them had dogs with them, like the Astors with their airdale Kitty.
How in the world were the elimination needs of the dogs taken care of on the Titanic? Poop seems straightforward enough. Dog poops, servant (or steward?) picks up the poop and tosses it overboard. But what about urination? Would there have been a designated location somewhere on the ship where you took your dog to pee? Would dogs have been trained to pee on newspaper or the like in their owners’ staterooms?
Most of the dogs on board were kept in kennels in the cargo hold, and tended to by ships’ stewards.
Can’t find an answer to the urine question in particular, but we do have a picture of a dog being walked on deck (from the earlier leg of Titanic’s journey), so I assume they either cleaned it up when the dog left a puddle, or people stepped around it until the decks were swabbed. Remember, it was a different time, with different notions of cleanliness. Public streets were full of urine puddles from horses (the car had been invented, of course, but was still expensive), so it was ingrained habit to watch where you walked.
Several dogs did surive the sinking, but they were all lap dogs who’s mistresses smuggled onto the lifeboats. Titanic also would’ve had a cat or two on board to help with the rat problem; none of those survived.
As a lucky Great Dane dad myself, I can fully understand not wanting to leave your best friend behind. My Great Dane is the most personable dog I have ever had. He is more like a four legged son to me than a dog. Woof!
I read that dogs were seen running around the decks of the Titanic as the ship was sinking, so apparently somebody opened the cages in the kennels once it became clear that the ship was going to sink. None of those dogs survived.
Is there any evidence that some of the art treasures onboard the Titanic were rescued? i read that there were Rembrants, Vermeers, etc, being transported-did anyone save these paintings?
Art treasures on the Titanic are, for the most part, rumours and assumptions. There were some, including a very valuable Persian book, but much of it only existed in Cameron Mackintosh’s imagination.
Question: did the purser open the ship’s safe up, so the rich ladies could leave with their jewelry? i recall reading that “Unsinkable” Molly Brown left with most of hers.
Dogs on ships isn’t an old timey thing. Some friends of mine recently moved from London to New York, and rather than put their poor little Pomeranian in the hold of a plane, they instead booked a cabin on… The Queen Elizabeth? The QEII? I forget. Anyway, their dog lived with them in their cabin and went for walks on deck. Forgot to ask about the poo situation though, sorry.
I believe the purser’s office was open nearly 24/7. Ladies of that time often wore their jewelry to the formal dinners, or to the evening concerts & dances, and might want to return them to the purser late at night when they left the party.
So presumably any rich lady could have gone to the purser’s office as the Titanic was sinking, and retrieved her jewels to take with her. Don’t know if any did.
