A gold pocket watch given to the captain of the steamship that saved more than 700 Titanic passengers has been sold for a record-breaking $1.96 million – the highest amount ever paid for memorabilia related to the ill-fated ship that sank on its way. Drowned on first voyage. 1912 in the Atlantic, according to auctioneers Henry Aldridge & Son of Devizes, Wiltshire. The 18-karat Tiffany & Co. gold watch was given to Captain Arthur Rostron by Madeleine Astor and two other widows of John Jacob Astor – a wealthy businessman who was considered the richest man on the Titanic when he took his life with 1,500 others. There was loss.
Mr Rostron was captain of the RMS Carpathia, a passenger steamship which rescued 705 survivors from the Titanic’s lifeboats. Carpathia was sailing from New York to Europe when the ship’s wireless operator raised the distress call, “We have hit ice, come immediately”. The captain changed course and headed towards the wreck of the Titanic with the lifeboats.
According to auctioneer Andrew Aldridge, the watch was “presented primarily to express gratitude for Rostron’s bravery in saving their lives, because without Mr Rostron, those 700 men would not have made it”. He said the sales demonstrated the “enduring fascination” for the Titanic story.
Notably, Mr. Rostron received the watch from Mrs. Astor during lunch at the family mansion in New York, bearing the inscription: “To Captain Rostron with the heartfelt gratitude and appreciation of the three survivors of the Titanic on April 15, 1912. Presented, Mrs. John B. Thayer, Mrs. John Jacob Astor and Mrs. George D. Widener.”
Read this also The richest Titanic passenger’s gold watch sold for $1.46 million
previous record
The previous record for the highest amount ever paid for Titanic memorabilia was set earlier this year in April, when another gold pocket watch recovered from the body of John Jacob Astor sold for $1.46 million Was. The watch, engraved with the initials JJA, was recovered a week after the disaster when Astor’s body was exhumed.
The violin that was played as the Titanic sank into the icy waters held the record for the highest amount paid for a Titanic item for 11 years, selling for $1.38 million in 2013.
