It’s no mystery that there were dogs on the maiden voyage of the RMS Titanic, 12 dogs had been recorded to have been on board and only three of them managed to survive. One Titanic’s animal victims belonged to first class passenger, Ann Elizabeth Isham. Isham had boarded Titanic with her Great Dane and had refused to leave him when her dog was deemed to big to fit into one of the lifeboats. However, shortly after the sinking came a story about a brave newfoundland's dog named Rigel who lost his owner during the sinking.The story of Rigel the dog has become somewhat of a titanic myth, no one really knows who he was or where he came from.
According to the history books Rigel the dog was black newfoundland’s pooch who belonged to none other than Titanic’s first officer William Murdoch. It was said that although Rigel’s master did not survive the sinking, the dog managed to escape and spent 3 hours in the North- Atlantic waters before being spotted by the Carpathia and was said to have saved people in the water. But this is where the myth starts to get a bit fuzzy. On Titanic’s recorded list of dogs who had boarded Rigel’s name is nowhere to be found, some even speculate Rigel’s existence. The lifeboat that Rigel had stayed close to after Titanic went down, in their testimonies none of them acknowledged the dog being there.
The story of Rigel was first published by The New York Herald on April 21st , 1912, but since has had numerous re-telling’s and reproductions, for example the dog’s name appears in the book Sinking of the Titanic and Great Sea Disasters which was also produced in 1912. The story of Rigel does not stop there people seemed to have had great interest with the fictional dog and apparently a member of the Carpathia crew (the ship that rescued Titanic’s survivors) a man by the name of Jonas Briggs had adopted Rigel and taken him back to Scotland. But we need to consider the legitimacy of this. According to records of the crew who had been serving on the Carpathia, no one by the name of Briggs had been recorded to have ever existed. Was this simply a story conceived by the Titanic-crazed press? The story was published just over a week after Titanic had sank and a few days after survivors had docked in New York. So perhaps the novelty of the disaster had sparked a media frenzy.
Another issue we need to look at is whether Rigel ever existed. Like I previously mentioned, there is no testimony of any survivor in both the U.S Senate and the British Board of Trade Inquiry that mentions Rigel. Quartermaster Walter Perkins who had been but in charge of lifeboat 4 with two other able seamen, hadn’t acknowledged the dog’s existence. Another man who had been hauled aboard lifeboat 4 was Frank Prentice, he was one of the last to join the lifeboat having survived a near 100 foot drop from the stern of the Titanic, never recalled seeing the dog. Nor was has there ever been a record of William Murdoch and his wife having a dog. Although some pictures exist of the alleged dog, nobody has ever confirmed whether this is Rigel or just another newfoundland’s dog.
But to entertain the idea, had Rigel ever existed he most likely would stood more than a good chance of survival this is down to the breed of dog. Newfoundland’s are very strong and can have a spectacular endurance level. According to www.dogtime.com “The Newfoundland is a large, strong dog breed from Newfoundland. He was originally used as a working dog to pull nets for fishermen and haul wood from the forest. He is a capable and hardworking dog, well suited to work on land or water. He is a strong swimmer and equally strong.” So had Rigel have stayed close to Lifeboat 4 he probably would have survived.
The legend of Rigel remains a titanic myth, though all evidence points to the dog being purely fictious, the character is still used today in Titanic books and even appears as the star of a titanic computer game.
As always, I’ll leave a few external links about Rigel the dog as well as the original source in which his story comes from.
Have a titanic week, Millie.
William Murdoch.net on Rigel’s existence : http://www.williammurdoch.net/articles_09_Murdochs_herioc_dog_Rigel.html
Premier exhibitions Man’s best friend : http://www.premierexhibitions.com/exhibitions/3/3/titanic-artifact-exhibition/blog/mans-best-friend-dogs-titanic
Who was on lifeboat 4? : https://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/titanic-lifeboat-4/
Remembering the dogs on Titanic: https://www.dogingtonpost.com/dogs-on-the-titanic/
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