We don’t know the breed of Amelia Earhart’s childhood dog, “James Ferocious,” other than that he was a large black dog who loved Amelia, but strangers, not so much. For that reason, he was usually tethered to a shed when he was outside. Chains didn’t do much to deter James Ferocious from exacting canine justice on the occasion that neighborhood boys teased him. James busted free from his chain and took after the boys. Brave in the face of a chained dog, the boys climbed to the top of a shed for safety when the chained dog was no longer constrained.
Amelia was six years old at the time, and it was screaming from the cruel boys that woke her up from an afternoon nap. Running outside, she got to her incensed dog, and told him in a steady but affectionate tone, “James Ferocious, you naughty dog. You tipped over your water dish again.” She patted the dog and took him into the kitchen.
Amelia’s mother later asked Amelia if she was even frightened during the ordeal. “There wasn’t any time to be afraid.” Amelia told her mom. Historians like to think that this episode showed that even at early age, Amelia Earhart could deal with a scary situation.
Today is National Amelia Earhart Day, and while we celebrate her “hutzpah,” we’re captivated by one of the few remaining mysteries left to people in the 21 century.
If you’re hearing her story for the first time, here is the “Cliff Notes” version. Earhart was the first female aviator to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. She was also the first female, and one of only a few to date, to receive the Air Force Distinguished Flying Cross. She disappeared in an around the world flight over the central Pacific Ocean in 1937 at the age of 39 with her navigator, Fred Noonan , and people have wondered what happened to her ever since. The Navy, the U.S. Coast Guard, the Navy, and many civilian adventure-mariners spent hours exploring remote islands, and diving the depths of the ocean in their search for evidence, but nothing was ever found.
Enter the dogs.
A pack of specially-trained Border Collies (“Berkeley,” “Piper,” “Marcy,” and “Kayle”) capable of detecting human bone buried up to nine feet and in sites up 1,500 years old attempted to locate her remains on Nikumaroro, part of the Republic of Kiribati, as part an expedition by The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery, and the National Geographic Society. The organization found some compelling indications that Earhart’s Lockheed Electra landed there after being unable to find Howland Island, its intended target. The evidence included a broken pocket knife of the same brand listed in inventory of Earhart’s plane, plexiglass from a cockpit, pieces of a 1930s woman’s compact, and the aluminum from an aircraft.
We wish we could report a conclusive find, but while this article suggests one, other experts are less sure, and theories about Earhart’s final days remain theories.
Image from the AKC website shared with consent.