Titanic "Mourning Bear"

After posting about the bear novels yesterday, I remembered some photos I wanted to share. One of the novels is called the "The Mournful Teddy" based around the famous mourning bear. I learned that the famous bear company, Steiff, created 600 black Steiff bears and exported them to England in May 1912 . They were a symbol of mourning after the R.M.S. Titanic sank in the chilly waters of the North Atlantic, April 15, 1912. It is said that the bear has red rims around it's eyes to appear as if it was crying. (In 2000 one of these rare bears sold for $184,000 Canadian !!!!)

Now...this was so interesting to me since 121 Titanic victims are buried in a local cemetery near me as Halifax was the closest port to the tragedy. I visited there 2 years ago for the first time, and it was a very somber experience to see all of those headstones in a row with the same dates. So many victims were so young.

Here are some pictures I took of that cemetery. You can click to enlarge them and read the plaque.