Animals aboard the RMS Titanic "Titanic"s first port of call after Southampton. The animals travelled on their own tickets and even the canary that left at Cherbourg had to be paid for, to the tune of 25 US cents. Like any other ship of the time, "Titanic" had a substantial population of rats. One was seen running across the Third Class Dining Room on the evening of the sinking, to the shock and amazement of the diners. Some of the women who saw it burst into tears, while men tried unsuccessfully to capture the rat. Few of "Titanic"s animals survived the ship's sinking. Three of
RMS Titanic alternative theories financial loss for the company. Gardiner proposes that, to make sure at least one vessel would be earning money, the badly damaged "Olympic" was patched up and then converted to become the "Titanic". The real "Titanic" when complete would then quietly enter service as the "Olympic". The "Titanic" indeed had a list to port leaving Southampton. Inadequate trimming of cargo and bunkers would likely result in such and the crew seems to have demonstrated a lack of proficiency on several occasions. A list to port was noted by several "Titanic" survivors including Lawrence Beesley who wrote in his book about