Watch given to Titanic hero sells for £1.5m
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A gold pocket watch given to the British captain who rescued over 700 passengers from the Titanic has sold for a record-breaking £1.56 million ($1.97 million) at auction. The 18-carat Tiffany & Co timepiece was presented to Sir Arthur Rostron, captain of the RMS Carpathia, by survivors he saved after the Titanic sank in 1912.
The sale, which took place at Henry Aldridge & Son Auctioneers in Wiltshire, marks the highest price ever paid for Titanic-related memorabilia. The watch was purchased by a private collector in the U.S., demonstrating the continuing fascination with the tragic events surrounding the ill-fated ocean liner.
Sir Arthur Rostron’s role in the Titanic disaster is one of heroism. On the night of April 14, 1912, the Carpathia, a passenger ship traveling from New York to Europe, was en route when it received the Titanic’s distress call: “We’ve struck ice, come at once.” Despite being miles away, Captain Rostron altered his course immediately, ordering the ship to proceed at full speed toward the disaster site. Two hours after the Titanic sank in the North Atlantic, Carpathia reached the scene, rescuing more than 700 passengers from lifeboats.
The pocket watch was given to Sir Arthur by three women who had survived the tragedy, including the widow of John Jacob Astor, one of the wealthiest passengers on board. The other two women were also widows of prominent businessmen who perished when the Titanic struck an iceberg, resulting in the deaths of more than 1,500 people.
The watch bears an inscription that reads: “Presented to Captain Rostron with the heartfelt gratitude and appreciation of three survivors of the Titanic April 15th 1912 Mrs John B. Thayer, Mrs John Jacob Astor, and Mrs George D. Widener.” The gift was presented to Captain Rostron at a luncheon at the Astor family’s Fifth Avenue mansion in New York City, where Mrs. Astor expressed her deep thanks for the captain’s bravery.
According to auctioneer Andrew Aldridge, the watch’s sale was a gesture of profound gratitude for the captain’s courageous actions. “It was presented principally in gratitude for Rostron’s bravery in saving those lives, because without Mr. Rostron, those 700 people wouldn’t have made it,” he said.
The previous record for Titanic memorabilia was set just a few months earlier in April 2024, when another gold pocket watch—recovered from the body of John Jacob Astor himself—sold for £1.175 million at the same auction house. Before that, the record was held by the violin played by the ship’s bandmaster as the Titanic sank. The violin sold for £1.1 million in 2013, holding the title for 11 years.
Aldridge noted that the record-breaking sales of Titanic artifacts reflect an increasing demand for such items, as well as a decreasing supply of memorabilia related to the ship. “These prices demonstrate the ever-decreasing supply and an ever-increasing demand for Titanic memorabilia,” he explained.
The sale of this historic timepiece reinforces the enduring legacy of the Titanic disaster and the continuing public interest in its tragic story. Sir Arthur Rostron’s role as a lifesaver, the poignant stories of the survivors, and the artifacts associated with the event continue to captivate the imagination, ensuring that items like this pocket watch remain highly prized by collectors and history enthusiasts alike.
This latest auction marks a significant moment in the ongoing fascination with the Titanic, a story that continues to hold emotional and historical weight more than a century after the ship’s tragic sinking. With each record-breaking sale, the legacy of the ship and its survivors lives on, underscoring the powerful connection between this piece of history and the people who continue to be drawn to its story.
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