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Rigel was a large black Newfoundland dog who was said to have saved some of the survivors of the sinking of the RMS Titanic. One account of the story was published in the New York Herald, April 21, 1912, the other was the book Sinking of the Titanic and Great sea disasters by Logan Marshall, published 1912. However, although the story has been widely reproduced, there is doubt about whether the dog actually existed.
Dog
Rigel was said to have been owned by William McMaster Murdoch, the First Officer of the Titanic. Murdoch died in the sinking, but Rigel swam away, and stayed close to one of the lifeboats. When RMS Carpathia arrived on the scene looking for survivors, Rigel began to bark. The lifeboat had drifted under the bows of the Carpathia, and was at risk of being run down, but the people in the boat were too exhausted to make themselves heard. Rigel's barks alerted Captain Arthur Rostron, who ordered the engines stopped and began the search for survivors. Everyone in the lifeboat was saved, and Rigel was pulled from the icy water after three hours, unaffected by the experience. The dog was too large to be pulled from the water by hand, but a seaman aboard the Carpathia, Jonas Briggs, managed to get a canvas sling under its belly, with which it was hauled aboard.
This story, however, has been the subject of some controversy. The above narrative has typically been credited to Rigel's inventive savior, Jonas Briggs, who later adopted the dog. But researchers have raised doubts about his role in the story. They note that there is no record of a "Jonas Briggs" working aboard the Carpathia at the time. Moreover, none of the survivors in lifeboat number four mentioned the dog in their accounts of their rescue. So the story might be untrue. Another theory, most notably advocated by Stanley Coren, claims that the Carpathia's Master at Arms, John Brown, adopted Rigel, while "Brigg" was the name of a passenger aboard one of the lifeboats. In this telling, John Brown retired soon after the incident and took the Newfoundland with him to his home in rural Scotland. There, the dog lived to an old age.