At the threshold of the 20th century, it was stylish to travel with your pet. When the Titanic sank on April 15, 1912, not only humans lost their lives, but also their animals. On the other hand, in almost empty lifeboats, couch dogs often left, wrapped in warm blankets and sitting comfortably on their ladies' laps, while people were left on the sinking ship with no chance for installments
In Albert Allis Hopkins' travel guide from 1910, you can read about the rules of ladies and gentlemen who went on a cruise on the ocean and what amenities they could count on during the trip. The richest and most influential were the social elite of the contemporary society. No wonder their dogs also lived like butter donuts.
A trip with class (on four legs)
American multimillionaire John Jacob Astor traveled with his Airedale terrier named Kitty. Henry Sleeper Harper of the New York dynasty of famous publishers and his wife Myra did not part with a Pekingese named Sun Yat-sen, named after the leader and founder of the Kuomitang, the first president of the Republic of China.
John Jacob Astor with his dog, Airedale Terrier. They both traveled aboard the Titanic.
In turn, a banker from Philadelphia, Robert W. Daniel, took with him on his journey a French bulldog champion, which he had previously purchased in Great Britain. Gamin de Pycombe, because that was the name of the dog, unlike its owner, he did not survive the catastrophe.
A parlor dog, Frou Frou, purchased in Florence, was the pet of 19-year-old Helen Bishop, who was returning with her husband from her honeymoon, and the Pomeranian dog (Miniature Spitz) belonged to Elizabeth Rothschild and her husband Martin - a New York entrepreneur. William Dulles, a lawyer from Philadelphia, also traveled with the Miniature Spitz. William Carter took a King Charles Spaniel on board and Harry Anderson took a chow.
The whole cabin for one pooch
According to Richard Davenport-Hines, author of Voyagers of the Titanic. Passengers, Sailors, Shipbuilders, Aristocrats, and the Worlds They Came From ”, the dogs of the first-class passengers could even count on their own cabins.
Not all fellow passengers were delighted with the company of colonial ladies and gentlemen - and their pets - used to the world falling at their feet.
The Titanic was going to the bottom, and with it the passengers. The likelihood of being saved was greater for the colonial lady's beloved doggie than for the male third-class passenger.
Hugh Brewster quotes in "Gilded Lives, Fatal Voyage" the harsh opinion of a British man sailing the Titanic in a letter to a friend:
Unbearable , ostentatious American women. [They are] the plague of every place they haunt, and in their ships even worse than anywhere else. Many of them carry small dogs with them and lead their husbands like tame lambs. […] They should be placed in a harem and kept there.
Stylish rescue
When the ship was going to the bottom, first class passengers departed in many nearly empty lifeboats - often with their pets, while third class went to the bottom with the ship.
Helen Bishop mentioned that she and her husband were pushed into lifeboat 7 and had previously left Frou Frou in their room, even though the pooch was squeezing into the folds of her dress as she put on a life vest. The deck officer ordered her to be silent and get in immediately, so Helen sat quietly in the lifeboat and thought of Frou Frou squeaking in the cabin. However, she found it inappropriate to take the dog to the lifeboat. She was one of the few.
Titanic Captain Edward Smith with his dog.
Meanwhile, another young lady, 24-year-old Margaret Hays, wasn't going anywhere without her black miniature spitz. She was allowed to get into lifeboat No. 7 with him. Wrapped in a warm blanket, the doggie and 28 passengers left the hell of the screams of drowning people, for whom they had not found a place in their good company . In turn, in lifeboat 6, another miniature spitz, owned by Elizabeth Rothschild, survived.
The Harpers also took their Pekingese with them, but it is worth noting that apart from the small size of the pooch in the lifeboat that could accommodate up to 70 people, only 40 comfortably seated passengers sailed with them.
The whole kennel and one pig
Hugh Brewster gives the account of one of the survivors who ran to the kennel half an hour before the Titanic sank and released all the dogs. Unfortunately, most of them could not be saved from the sinking ship - only those that were taken by passengers or who managed to reach the lifeboats survived. 
According to Richard Davenport-Hines' description, five women saved their dogs and one saved a little pig. The mere fact that several first-class passengers' pets survived, while 1,500 people died in the icy waters, has become a sore subject among survivors.
Man's best friend
However, not all first-class passengers with pets were heartless spoiled snobs, however. Geoff Tibballs, editor of the book "Voices from the Titanic", quotes from Daily Sketch dated May 6, 1912.
A Newfoundland named Rigel. The dog jumped from the Titanic as it was going to the bottom and swam past the lifeboat barking loudly, which caught the attention of the crew going to rescue the vessel.
According to it, a certain young lady refused to enter the lifeboat because she did not want to leave her St. Bernard. She would rather stay on the sinking ship than sail alone, even though there was a place prepared for her.
She was later seen on board hugging her pet, and after the crash, her body was found floating in the water next to her beloved dog.
Myths and legends
Like every tragedy and catastrophe of the Titanic, it is shrouded in anecdotes, myths and legends. They also apply to pets on board the ship. One of them tells about a heroic dog that was supposed to help in a rescue operation.
Sun Yat-sen. Pekingese who survived the Titanic crash.
Walter Lord, author of The Complete Titanic Chronicles, cites an account of an RMS Carpathia sailor named Jonas Briggs who remembered a beautiful Newfoundland named Rigel from the Titanic. The dog was about to jump out of the sinking ship and escorted one of the lifeboats to the Carpathia, and his joyful barking alerted Captain Arthur Henry Rostron that there were survivors approaching.
The reliability of the report has not been fully confirmed, because apparently no Jonas Riggs sailed aboard the Carpathia, but it would be nice to believe that such an event actually took place.
Kocica-clairvoyant (who was not there)
On the web you can also read a story about a kitten named Jenny, who recently gave birth to kittens on the Titanic, was to sense the catastrophe and leave the ship in Belfast with her cubs.
The shock and disbelief caused the ship to go to the bottom of the "unsinkable" ship. It would be even greater if it was widely known that some passengers preferred to rescue their pets rather than drowning second and third class passengers.
One of the sailors named Jim was to get off with her. Unfortunately, this is utter nonsense, this charming legend can be put into fairy tales. The facts are much less fun - Jim did have a cat, the cat gave birth to cubs on the ship, but they all went down in the crash.
This story was told by Jim's friend, Violet Jessop, who survived the Titanic, and Charles Pellegrino says that a charming fairy tale with a happy ending was simply invented by… Internet users. Subsequently, it was caught by unreliable journalists who repeatedly reprinted the story in the press. Do people prefer unbelievable, yet made up, animal stories to banal but true stories about people and their pets?