Titanic.

Many of us, if not all of us, know the story of the Titanic.

The tragic sinking saw many lives lost, but not too many are aware of the dogs that also sailed with the ship.

12 dogs boarded the Titanic with their owners and three were lucky enough to survive.

Two being Pomeranian and the third was a Pekingese.

These dogs belonged to first class travellers as the rich and famous always took their dogs with them.

It is believed that the small size of these dogs is what saved them, as they didn't take up any extra room on the life boats and could hide in someones lap.

The first Pomeranian to survive was Lady, who belonged to Margaret Hays, a 24 year old who was travelling home to New York. She was travelling with 2 other friends in first class. When the mayhem began, Miss Hays rushed with her friends to the deck, setting themselves up in life jackets and wrapping Lady in blankets. Not long after the first life boat was boarded, boat number 7. Miss Hays, both her friends and Lady made it onto this boat. Several hours later they were rescued by a ship, the Carpathia.

The name of the second Pomeranian is unknown, but he was owned by Mr and Mrs Rothschild, a well known couple within the New York clothing industry. Mrs. Rothschild was lucky enough to make it to a lifeboat, hiding her pooch under her clothing. When being rescued by the Carpathia, they refused to take her dog. She wouldn't board the ship unless her dog came with her, so they complied. Mr Rothschild unfortunately didn't make it to a life raft and went down with the Titanic.

 

Sun Yat-Sen, the Pekingese that survived was owned by Henry Harper, the heir to the Harper and Row publishing firm in New York. Mr Harper, along with a friend he was travelling with safely made it into life boat number 3 and were later rescued.

Some people were somewhat outraged that dogs survived and some people didn't, though the dogs took up no room and it was easy for owners to hide them.

Not a clear photo, but the only one known of Sun Yat-Sen

The only photo taken of any dogs on the Titanic, taken in Ireland.