whatever happened to Lucky the famous seafaring dog?

It's almost exactly three years ago since I posted about the book Lucky Goes to Sea, by Frank Robson. I loved this book, because it was centred on the dog and the love his humans had for him.

I remember quoting a sentence near the end of the story:
He's our once-in-a-lifetime dog, and even if he lives to be twenty (not that unusual among small breeds) it won't be enough.

I'm sad to hear that Lucky did not live long after the book was written.

I've just read this news in a letter written by Frank Robson to the editor of The Big Issue. He says, in part,

Sadly, not long after the cruising adventure outlined in the book ended and we came ashore, Lucky - then about 13 - succumbed to cancer. We tried going for a few short sails without him, but it just wasn't the same…so we sold the old trimaran and settled (for the time being) in Brisbane…it is a wonderful thing to adopt a dog and show him or her a good time, especially when their happiness lights up your world as Lucky's did.

RIP Lucky.

The Big Issue is my favourite magazine.

I think Lucky looked a lot like Penny. I asked her to pose with the two books, Lucky for Me, and Lucky Goes to Sea, but Penny doesn't like the camera pointing at her (as you can see by her nervous lip licking).

Penny's not really into reading books...