Memorabilia from Titanic disaster goes up for auction

Published on Saturday 29 April 2006 14:49

MEMORABILIA from one of world's most famous disasters at sea was set to go under the hammer today.

Among more than 370 lots in the Titanic sale is a locket from a first-class passenger, Helen Churchill Candee, who was travelling to see her son who had been involved in an accident in the United States.

She gave the 19th century gilt portrait miniature of her mother to a friend as the ship was sinking because she had no pockets. The piece is expected to fetch up to 25,000 at the sale in Wiltshire.

A letter written on Titanic stationery during the voyage by one of her fellow survivors, Bath-born Edwina Troutt, which labels the ship a "floating palace", is set to sell for between 10,000 to 12,000 at the Devizes saleroom of Henry Alridge and Son.

Other items include a plan of first-class accommodation, a postcard franked in the ship's post room and a picture of the Titanic and sister ship, Olympic, in the Belfast dockyard of Harland and Wolff, taken in March 1912.

Auctioneer Andrew Aldridge said: "I think this is probably one of the richest auctions of Titanic memorabilia ever held. There are some beautiful items here."

The Titanic was regarded as unsinkable, and passengers included British nobility, American industrialists and many poor emigrants hoping to start a new life in the US or Canada.