The Titanic sailed 114 years ago today with a Pig on Board… and recalling the glam of the First Class Ladies by Jina Bacarr
April 11, 2026 by Jina Bacarr in category historical fiction, Jina’s Book Chat, Reading, Titanic, women's fiction, Writing tagged as #Historical, 1912. historical romance, British, countess, England, Ireland, Irish, pig, romance', ship of dreams, Southampton, Titanic, Titanic 114
Photos: Dreamstime.com — using RF stock, my interpretation of the ship and female passenger and of course, the little pig.
Since I’m sitting at my computer in lovely, old scarlet velvet slippers, yoga pants, and a sweatshirt, it’s time to remind myself that once upon a time I wore high heels, sexy jeans, and crop tops. And before that, glam dresses with sequins.
Like this photo of me at the end of this post. Check it out. Look at those strappy silver stilettos, will you?
I love dressing up and adore the fashions of the era, marveling how First Class Ladies wore corsets under their nightgowns when they got into the lifeboats. So every year in April I go through my Titanic memorabilia, put on a pretty dress and my white lace-up boots with the pretty embroidery and listen to the novel I wrote about the Titanic, The Runaway Girl, and embark once again on the journey from Ireland on the Ship of Dreams sans corset.
On the Titanic.
Hard to believe it’s 114 years ago today the grand ship Titanic left Queenstown.
So in honor of the souls who perished that night and those who survived, here is a lesser known story about the Titanic.
And the little pig on board.
According to the New York Herald on April 19, 1912: Five women saved their pet dogs and another woman saved a pig, which she said was her mascot.
The reporter goes on to say that she didn’t know how the woman cared for her pig aboard the Titanic, but she carried it up the side of the ship [the Carpathia, rescue ship] in a big bag.
Good Lord, how did the pig get into the lifeboat? Squealing, wiggling, I imagine… maybe not.
Was the little pig traveling first class?
In a word, yes.
More about this intrepid little piggy and the important part it played in the sinking of the Titanic later. First, you can’t get away from pigs and the Titanic.
In the Julian Fellowes’ mini-series Titanic, a passenger in third class isn’t happy about traveling steerage to New York. She tells her husband that her daughter said their Irish Catholic family is like six little pigs packed into that cabin, all trussed and bound for market.
They’re not the only Irish aboard the ship with pigs on their mind.
Ava O’Reilly, the heroine in my historical romance, THE RUNAWAY GIRL nearly doesn’t make it on board the ship because of a pig.
Ava runs away from the grand house where she is in service after she is wrongly accused of stealing a diamond bracelet. The law is after her, but she has one chance to escape.
The Titanic.
Will Ava make it on board the Titanic before she sails? Only by the skin of her teeth.
Does she see the pig during the crossing?
Few passengers did because the cute little pig with the curly tail was the lucky mascot of Miss Edith Russell.
She loved to wind up its tail and it would play a lively musical tune similar to a two-step called Maxixe.
You see, the pig was musical pig.
The reporter on the Carpathia didn’t know the real story behind Miss Russell’s pig. How it was given to her after she survived a horrific motorcar crash. She promised her mother it would never be out of her sight. When she realized the Titanic was sinking and she’d left her mascot in her cabin, she sent the steward to retrieve her lucky pig.
Still, Edith was hesitant to get into a lifeboat. When a seaman tossed her pig into a boat (believing it was a baby wrapped up in a bag), Edith insisted on getting into the boat, too. Its nose was gone and its legs broken, but Edith and her little pig escaped in lifeboat no. 11.
Overcrowded with sixty-eight passengers (nearly one-third were children), Edith realized her little pig could comfort others as it had her. She wound up its tail so it would play music for the children. Most of the little ones stopped crying as the pig’s sparkling musical notes calmed their fears.
Its furry, white-gray body wet with sea spray.
Its cute grin giving them hope they would be saved.
It was the little Titanic pig that could.
Thanks for stopping by!
~Jina
The Runaway Girl
Buy Links:
Amazon:
Audible https://www.amazon.com/dp/B084MM1D4R
Spotify https://open.spotify.com/album/3A08bcsCeI6LHWRQTmAM30
Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-runaway-girl-jina-bacarr/1135653540?ean=9781838893736
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-runaway-girl-1
Apple Books: https://books.apple.com/us/book/the-runaway-girl/id1492269132
PS check out TITANIC AND ME, my story behind the story on the BOLDWOOD BOOKS Blog.
Once upon the ship of dreams… me dressed as a first class lady
============
jinabacarr.wordpress.com
twitter.com/jinabacarr
facebook.com/JinaBacarr
The TITANIC set sail 113 years ago…with a Pig on board by Jina Bacarr
April 11, 2025 by Jina Bacarr in category Jina’s Book Chat, Reading, Titanic, Writing tagged as #Historical, 1912. historical romance, British, Confessions of a Podcast Goddess, countess, Downton Abbey, England, Ireland, Irish, pig, romance', ship of dreams, Southampton, Titanic, Titanic 104Photos: Dreamstime.com — female passenger and of course, the little pig.
Hard to believe it’s 113 years ago today the grand ship Titanic left Ireland.
So in honor of the souls who perished that night and those who survived, here is a lesser known story about the Titanic.
And a little pig.
According to the New York Herald on April 19, 1912: Five women saved their pet dogs and another woman saved a little pig, which she said was her mascot.
The reporter goes on to say that she didn’t know how the woman cared for her pig aboard the Titanic, but she carried it up the side of the ship [the Carpathia, rescue ship] in a big bag.
How did the pig get into the lifeboat?
Was the little pig traveling first class?
In a word, yes.
More about this intrepid little piggy and the important part it played in the sinking of the Titanic later. First, it seems you can’t get away from pigs and the Titanic.
In the Julian Fellowes’ mini-series Titanic, a passenger in third class isn’t happy about traveling steerage to New York. She tells her husband that her daughter said their Irish Catholic family is like six little pigs packed into that cabin, all trussed and bound for market.
They’re not the only Irish aboard the ship with pigs on their mind.
Ava O’Reilly, the heroine in my historical romance, THE RUNAWAY GIRL nearly doesn’t make it on board the ship because of a pig.
Katie runs away from the grand house where she is in service after she is wrongly accused of stealing a diamond bracelet. The law is after her, but she has one chance to escape.
The Titanic.
Will Ava make it on board the Titanic before she sails? Only by the skin of her teeth.
Does she see the pig during the crossing?
Few passengers did because the cute little pig with the curly tail was the lucky mascot of Miss Edith Russell.
She loved to wind up its tail and it would play a lively musical tune similar to a two-step called Maxixe.
You see, the pig was musical pig.
The reporter on the Carpathia didn’t know the real story behind Miss Russell’s pig. How it was given to her after she survived a horrific motorcar crash. She promised her mother it would never be out of her sight. When she realized the Titanic was sinking and she’d left her mascot in her cabin, she sent the steward to retrieve her lucky pig.
Still, Edith was hesitant to get into a lifeboat. When a seaman tossed her pig into a boat (believing it was a baby wrapped up in a bag), Edith insisted on getting into the boat, too. Its nose was gone and its legs broken, but Edith and her little pig escaped in lifeboat no. 11.
Overcrowded with sixty-eight passengers (nearly one-third were children), Edith realized her little pig could comfort others as it had her. She wound up its tail so it would play music for the children. Most of the little ones stopped crying as the pig’s sparkling musical notes calmed their fears.
Its furry, white-gray body wet with sea spray.
Its cute grin giving them hope they would be saved.
It was the little Titanic pig that could.
Thanks for stopping by!
~Jina
The Runaway Girl
Buy Links:
Amazon:
Audible https://www.amazon.com/dp/B084MM1D4R
Spotify https://open.spotify.com/album/3A08bcsCeI6LHWRQTmAM30
Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-runaway-girl-jina-bacarr/1135653540?ean=9781838893736
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-runaway-girl-1
Apple Books: https://books.apple.com/us/book/the-runaway-girl/id1492269132
PS check out TITANIC AND ME, my story behind the story on the BOLDWOOD BOOKS Blog.
Once upon the ship of dreams… me dressed as a first class lady
============
jinabacarr.wordpress.com
twitter.com/jinabacarr
facebook.com/JinaBacarr
When you’re on deadline and the time changes and you freak out when you lose an hour by Jina Bacarr
March 11, 2023 by Jina Bacarr in category Jina’s Book Chat, Writing tagged as #Historical, clocks forward, editing, Paris, time change, women's fiction, World War 2, writing
when the time changes and you don’t…
If there’s one thing we writers never have enough of…
It’s time.
Words we got… thousands.
Coffee… by the potful.
Comfy bunny slippers… on automatic re-order from Amazon.
But time?
That’s as elusive as the instant bestseller.
I’m on autopilot this week until whenever to get it all together and bring my next Paris WW2 novel home for my publisher Boldwood Books. Amazing company. They take good care of their authors… fabulous marketing team… I love my editor, Isobel… and the company has won several ‘Best Publisher’ awards in the UK and is up for more awards this year.
And my fellow authors are like family to me.
But in the end, it’s up to me to write the damn book.
Sweat, tears… blood. Yes, I changed the order because I sweat the small stuff like commas and the big stuff like research which turns into major tears when I realize writing never gets easier but tougher (you demand more of yourself)… and blood because if you don’t bleed onto the page, you’re not giving it your all.
So, mes amis, tonight is the night we turn the clocks forward and lose the hour.
But guess what. I’ve decided to do something about it.
I’m going to type twice as fast for a solid hour (accuracy is another story) and write twice as many words and–
Voilà!
I’ve got my hour back… at least for tonight.
Tomorrow?
Well, that’s another day.
===============
Some great book news:
The trade paperback of my Paris WW2 novel THE LOST GIRL OF PARIS
is coming to THE WORKS stores in the UK… so check it out if you’re in the United Kingdom.
Listen to an excerpt in the video below…
E-book:
My heroine, Angeline de Cadieux, is a Roma girl in WW2 Paris… she’s strong, fights in the Resistance… makes exquisite perfumes and comes up with an amazing marketing campaign during the war to boost morale in France.
Thank you!
————–
And THE RUNAWAY GIRL is a Kindle Monthly Deal in Australia.
Thanks for listening… and now back to our regularly scheduled craziness.
Jina
Happy 3rd Birthday to my publisher Boldwood Books by Jina Bacarr
August 11, 2022 by Jina Bacarr in category Jina’s Book Chat, Writing tagged as #Boldwood Books, #Historical, romance, writing@jinabacarrauthor Happy 3rd Birthday to #boldwoodbooks #booktok #boldwoodbirthday @bookandtonic
♬ original sound – Jina Bacarr
I was a shy kid growing up… glasses, pigtails, my nose in a book, but I came alive on stage. I think that’s because there I could be someone else who wasn’t always the ‘new kid’.
You see, I went to fifteen schools growing up.
But there was one thing constant in my life on every birthday no matter in which state we lived.
My mother’s butter vanilla cake.
Every birthday Mom made me a cake from scratch. Sometimes milk chocolate icing, or lemon or coconut , but always that soul-melty butter cake. Sweet but not too sweet, smooth, silky cake and dollops and gobs of yummy buttercream frosting.
So this year when my publisher BOLDWOOD BOOKS asked us authors to do a video to celebrate the phenomenal success of the company on their 3rd birthday, I so wanted to make Mom’s butter vanilla cake but–
For the past three weeks, I’ve been obsessed with finishing my next Paris/Berlin WW2 novel (many all-nighters) — handing in the manuscript, then working on the edits from the best editor a writer could ever have. Amazing lady who challenges me to write the best books I can. I’ve been with Nia Beynon from the beginning of my Boldwood Books’ journey and she’s the best.
I’m proud to say I’m the first American author they signed in 2019.
On this fab occasion, I want to wish Team Boldwood a very happy 3rd birthday!!
I hope you enjoy my birthday video — I shot the vid at my local fancy bakery…
And if you look close enough, you’ll see that little girl in an insert in the video… with glasses and pigtails wound on top of her head.
Jina
Paris 1940
The Lost Girl in Paris
My heroine, Angeline de Cadieux, is a Roma girl in WW2 Paris… she’s strong, fights in the Resistance… makes exquisite perfumes and comes up with an amazing marketing campaign during the war to boost morale in France.
Thank you!
The Resistance Girl
Juliana discovers her grandmamma was a famous French film star in Occupied Paris & her shocking secret…
CA https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B08DNDHDG4
AU https://amazon.com.au/dp/B08DNDHDG4
The Runaway Girl
Once upon the ship of dreams… me dressed as a first class lady
Amazon:
HER LOST LOVE
0 0 Read more
The Titanic sailed today 110 years ago…with a Pig on board by Jina Bacarr
April 11, 2022 by Jina Bacarr in category Jina’s Book Chat, Reading, Titanic, Writing tagged as #Historical, 1912. historical romance, British, Confessions of a Podcast Goddess, countess, Downton Abbey, England, Ireland, Irish, pig, romance', ship of dreams, Southampton, Titanic, Titanic 104Photos: Dreamstime.com — using RF stock, my interpretation of the ship and female passenger and of course, the little pig.
Downton Abbey is but a memory… but it will be forever in our hearts.
Do you remember that first scene when a messenger on a bicycle brought a telegram to the Crawley family that would forever change their lives?
And ours?
A telegram about two male relatives lost at sea.
On the Titanic.
Hard to believe it’s 110 years ago today the grand ship Titanic left Ireland.
So in honor of the souls who perished that night and those who survived, here is a lesser known story about the Titanic.
And the pig.
According to the New York Herald on April 19, 1912: Five women saved their pet dogs and another woman saved a little pig, which she said was her mascot.
The reporter goes on to say that she didn’t know how the woman cared for her pig aboard the Titanic, but she carried it up the side of the ship [the Carpathia, rescue ship] in a big bag.
How did the pig get into the lifeboat?
Was the little pig traveling first class?
In a word, yes.
More about this intrepid little piggy and the important part it played in the sinking of the Titanic later. First, it seems you can’t get away from pigs and the Titanic.
In the Julian Fellowes’ mini-series Titanic, a passenger in third class isn’t happy about traveling steerage to New York. She tells her husband that her daughter said their Irish Catholic family is like six little pigs packed into that cabin, all trussed and bound for market.
They’re not the only Irish aboard the ship with pigs on their mind.
Ava O’Reilly, the heroine in my historical romance, THE RUNAWAY GIRL nearly doesn’t make it on board the ship because of a pig.
Katie runs away from the grand house where she is in service after she is wrongly accused of stealing a diamond bracelet. The law is after her, but she has one chance to escape.
The Titanic.
Will Ava make it on board the Titanic before she sails? Only by the skin of her teeth.
Does she see the pig during the crossing?
Few passengers did because the cute little pig with the curly tail was the lucky mascot of Miss Edith Russell.
She loved to wind up its tail and it would play a lively musical tune similar to a two-step called Maxixe.
You see, the pig was musical pig.
The reporter on the Carpathia didn’t know the real story behind Miss Russell’s pig. How it was given to her after she survived a horrific motorcar crash. She promised her mother it would never be out of her sight. When she realized the Titanic was sinking and she’d left her mascot in her cabin, she sent the steward to retrieve her lucky pig.
Still, Edith was hesitant to get into a lifeboat. When a seaman tossed her pig into a boat (believing it was a baby wrapped up in a bag), Edith insisted on getting into the boat, too. Its nose was gone and its legs broken, but Edith and her little pig escaped in lifeboat no. 11.
Overcrowded with sixty-eight passengers (nearly one-third were children), Edith realized her little pig could comfort others as it had her. She wound up its tail so it would play music for the children. Most of the little ones stopped crying as the pig’s sparkling musical notes calmed their fears.
Its furry, white-gray body wet with sea spray.
Its cute grin giving them hope they would be saved.
It was the little Titanic pig that could.
Thanks for stopping by!
~Jina
The Runaway Girl
Buy Links:
Amazon:
Audible https://www.amazon.com/dp/B084MM1D4R
Spotify https://open.spotify.com/album/3A08bcsCeI6LHWRQTmAM30
Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-runaway-girl-jina-bacarr/1135653540?ean=9781838893736
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-runaway-girl-1
Apple Books: https://books.apple.com/us/book/the-runaway-girl/id1492269132
PS check out TITANIC AND ME, my story behind the story on the BOLDWOOD BOOKS Blog.
Once upon the ship of dreams… me dressed as a first class lady
============
jinabacarr.wordpress.com
twitter.com/jinabacarr
facebook.com/JinaBacarr
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