Titanic's cat revealed at last

[Dave Gittins]

As has happened in the past, a piece of the Titanic story has been hidden in plain sight for almost 97 years.

On 11 April, Francis Browne photographed two passengers taking a morning stroll on deck. The deck was still wet from overnight washing.

Un-notice until now, in the background was Titanic's cat, which had found a dry spot on a crane and was waiting for some sunshine.

Below is a detail from Browne's photo. I only hope the cat had the good sense to desert in Queenstown.

 

[Ernie Luck]

Nice try, Dave. If today's date had been 11 April I might have believed you.

I'm still smarting about being caught out a few years ago by a story about Captain Smith's monkey or was it a parrot?

 

[Rocky Whiteside]

I would of fell for it if the left ear had been blurred out, but it seems to be clearer than the rest of the body.

 

[Bob Godfrey]

This might be a good time to post this pic of the real cat. As far as I know it's never been published before.

 

[monica e. hall]

Reminds me of poor little Kilo, HMS Belfast's cat.

 

[George L. Lorton]

I got a picture of Jenny's Kittens that were saved from the ship! Last time it was published was in the Daily Mirror in April Of 1912 under the headline "Clever Mother Cat Saves Her Kittens From Titanic!"

 

[Rocky Whiteside]

That picture seems to clear too me....

 

[George L. Lorton]

Amazing the Technology they had back then!

 

[Inger Sheil]

No, no - I'm sure that Dave just enhanced the ear for clarity, to bring out the detail in the image!

 

[Rocky Whiteside]

Haha, George.

 

[monica e. hall]

Since I have inadvertently blown everyone's cover re April 1st ... Kilo was a real cat. He lived on HMS Belfast in the Thames until a couple of years ago. He was killed by being thrown into the Thames by a 14-year old girl ... for fun. One can't really understand this.

 

[George L. Lorton]

quote:

Haha, George.

It is to LOL

 

[Dave Gittins]

OK. April Fools is over and it's time to come clean.

The photo I posted is exactly as taken by Francis Browne, except that I added just a few pixels to give the "cat" an ear.

I noticed the black object on the crane tears ago and I've taken my time over playing a prank with it. I've no idea what it really was.

You can see more of my old April Fools pranks at

http://users.senet.com.au/~gittins/Verse.html

See also the world's worst Titanic poem on the same page. That's perfectly genuine. Don't blame me if it makes you sick!

 

[nikita hawkins]

Titanic had a cat! what happend to it.

 

[Dave Gittins]

The cat in the photo I posted was my April Fools joke, but according to two witnesses Titanic really did have a cat. Stewardess Violet Jessop said a cat and kittens were acquired from Olympic. She didn't say what happened to them.

According to a stoker called Joe Mulholland, the cat and her kittens left the ship in Southampton. Mulholland took the hint and left the ship too.