Titanic survivors life jacket from the lifeboat that coldly ignored drowning passengers sells for $700k
The only lifejacket of a Titanic survivor ever auctioned — worn by one of the passengers in lucky Lifeboat No.1 — was sold today for $717,772 in England.
The ship was four days into its maiden voyage when it struck an iceberg just before midnight on April 14, 1912, sealing its fate as the world’s most infamous shipwreck.The poignant remaining pieces of that story were sold to highest bidder during an April 18 sale at Henry Aldridge & Son Ltd., a Wiltshire-based auction house.At the center of it all was a life jacket worn by first-class passenger Laura Mabel Francatelli, a 22-year-old who survived the tragedy by boarding Lifeboat No.1, known as the “money boat.”It became shadowed by controversy, accused of failing to return for hundreds who were dying in the frigid Atlantic waters.
The passengers on the lifeboat agreed it would be too dangerous to go back for others as they’d be swamped.Even more horrifying, the boat was built for 40 people, yet launched with just 12 passengers aboard.Francatelli was traveling as a secretary to fashion designer Lady Lucy Duff Gordon and her husband, Sir Cosmo Duff Gordon.It was later rumored Sir Cosmo had paid crew members in advance to reserve a place in the lifeboat for his wife and her assistant.Francatelli later recalled being told not to worry as she was helped into the life preserver.She and fellow Lifeboat No.1 passengers signed the souvenir and took a photograph together after they were safely aboard the RMS Carpathia, a Cunard steamship that came to the rescue of 705 Titanic passengers.“It represents a pinnacle of Titanic memorabilia,” Andrew Aldridge, managing director of the firm, told The Post.
It possesses “exceptional provenance, rarity, and was onboard the ship.“There has been interest from around the world in the auction, the stories of the Titanic’s passengers and crew are told through these items, names that would have long since forgotten are kept alive by this memorabilia.”A canvas c...