Jenny - The Ships Cat

Chapter 2 - The Animals Aboard

Jenny was the Ships Cat of the 'Titanic'.

On April 14th 1912, the Titanic Sank.

1517 people died.

9 dogs died (1).

4 hens and a canary died.

The mice and rats died.

Jenny may have died.

There are no records of Jenny having survived the Titanic.

I ask you to ponder the question yourself, what if? The historical facts are these:

Key Points:

-Jenny was a real cat, transferred to the 'Titanic' from the 'Olympia' as a mouser.

-Jim looked after Jenny and her kittens onboard the Titanic. She was described as 'warmly devoted' to him (2).

-Jim said Jenny left the Titanic with her newborn kittens, claiming it was a bad omen he decided to leave the ship.

-There are no other reports on the fate of Jenny on the ships voyage. It's entirely possible she survived and you'd think one of the passengers would have noticed her after Southampton if she was onboard.

Why did Jim leave the Titanic?:

-He said, Jenny, the ships cat, leaving the ship was a 'bad omen'.

-Jim was a stoker (shovelling coal into furnaces) and claimed to have observed a partially flooded stokehold. This gave him an uneasy feeling.

-Jim may have had an argument with the Catholic workers onboard over his Protestant faith. He may also have had an argument with an engineer onboard over the partially flooded stokehold.

Jim, a poor man, in a time when work was difficult to come by, left a well paying job and a career, over an uneasy feeling, the bad omen of a cat leaving a ship (3).

-Jenny loved Jim. If Jim really loved Jenny, would he have told the truth about her?

Did Jenny survive the Titanic?

Do you believe in the best of humanity or the worst? Are we liars or storytellers? What is history if not people telling stories?

I like to believe that Jenny survived the Titanic, because it's the better story and therefore I hope the truth.

Footnotes:

(1)The Dogs of the Titanic-

During the sinking, Miss Ann Elizabeth Isham refused to leave her great dane, which prevented her getting on the lifeboats and died. On 20 April 1912, while sailing from Bremen to New York City, SS Bremen passed through the debris field left by the sinking of the RMS Titanic. A passenger saw a frozen body of a woman floating in the water hugging her big dog. She chose to die, rather than leave her friend. Her love for her companion is why the animals of the Titanic should not be overlooked by the most critical. It was important to her and she was brave.

As to the fate of the other dogs in this story, The Pomeranian named 'Bebe' and Pekingnese named 'Sun Yat Sen' survived, Rigel's fate and existence is unknown.

The newfoundland dog called 'Rigel' is reported to have saved many survivors. He stayed to close to one of the lifeboats swimming in the icy ocean and barked out for survivors. Some stories say he died, others say he survived. He was the pet of the First Officer William McMaster Murdoch who perished, there are conflicting accounts around whether he even existed.

(2)-The Stewardess of the Titanic Violet Jessop and workhand Joseph Mullholland (Jim) confirmed that Jim looked after Jenny on the Titanic, and that she loved him very much.

(3)- The Irish Times first wrote about Jenny's story after a reporter spoke to an elderly man who told the tale. Was he Jim Muholland, was he someone else?

Credit for the Photos:

-Ships Cat (Cover, Chp1)- https://www.thevintagenews.com/2022/07/25/jenny-the-cat-titanic/

-Jenny (print, Chp1)- https://shop.ornc.org/products/copy-of-ships-cats-print-jenny-of-the-titanic

-Jim and Jenny (Chp1)- https://lovecatsworld.com/jenny-the-legendary-cat-of-the-titanic/

-Jenny's Voyage  (Chp1)- https://www.alamy.com/a-map-showing-the-route-of-the-rms-titanic-on-its-ill-fated-maiden-voyage-from-belfast-to-southampton-southampton-to-cherbourg-cherbourg-to-queenstown-now-cobh-and-then-a-final-departure-for-new-york-image485680458.html

-Titanic (Cover, Chp2)- https://www.history.com/topics/early-20th-century-us/titanic

-Ships cat (above, Chp2)- https://www.mentalfloss.com/posts/jenny-titanic-cat