Swansea Jack

He was a black retriever belonging to William Thomas, who lived by the North Dock in Swansea, and by all accounts an unremarkable dog until a boy went into the water in front of him in 1931. Jack went in and brought him out. Nobody saw it but the family, and nothing came of it. A few weeks later he did it again in front of a crowd, and after that it was a habit: any splash, any shout, and he was in the dock. Over the next six years he was credited with twenty-seven people brought out of the water — swimmers, dockers, children, a man who had gone in from a boat. The local paper kept count. He was given a silver cup by the Lord Mayor of London, two bronze medals by the National Canine Defence League, and in 1936 the Star newspaper named him Bravest Dog of the Year. He died in October 1937 after eating rat poison on the shore he had worked all his life. A memorial was raised by public subscription on the promenade at St Helen's, and the phrase “Swansea Jack” stuck to the people of the town as a nickname, which it still is.

Loved by · William Thomas

Honours

• 1931First recorded rescue: a boy pulled from the North Dock
• 1936Named Bravest Dog of the Year by the Star; silver cup from the Lord Mayor of London
• 1937Twenty-seven people credited to him by the time he died
• · Memorial raised by public subscription on the Swansea promenade

Their kind

Retrievers were bred to mark where something fell, go in after it, and come back — in water, in cold, and without being asked twice.

A life in seasons