A gold pocket watch presented to the British captain who rescued over 700 Titanic survivors has been sold at auction for a record £1.56 million ($1.97 million). The 18-carat Tiffany & Co. watch was given to Sir Arthur Rostron, captain of the RMS Carpathia, by the survivors he saved during the Titanic disaster in 1912.
The auction marked the highest price ever paid for Titanic-related memorabilia. The watch was purchased by a private collector from the United States. The sale highlights the ongoing fascination with the Titanic tragedy and its legacy.
Sir Arthur Rostron, captain of the Carpathia, altered his ship’s course after the vessel’s wireless operator received a distress call from the Titanic that read, “we’ve struck ice, come at once.” Despite being on a voyage from New York to Europe, the Carpathia sped towards the disaster site and arrived about two hours after the Titanic had sunk in the North Atlantic on April 15, 1912.
The gold pocket watch was a gift to Sir Arthur from the widows of three prominent passengers who died in the tragedy, including Mrs. John Jacob Astor, widow of the richest man aboard the Titanic. The other two widows were Mrs. John B. Thayer and Mrs. George D. Widener, both of whom also lost their husbands in the disaster. 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.”
According to the auction house, Sir Arthur received the watch from Mrs. Astor at a luncheon at the Astor family’s mansion on Fifth Avenue in New York City. The gift was given as a token of gratitude for his heroic actions in rescuing over 700 passengers, without which many of the survivors would not have made it. As auctioneer Andrew Aldridge put it, “Without Mr. Rostron, those 700 people wouldn’t have made it.”
The previous record for Titanic memorabilia was set in April when a gold pocket watch, recovered from the body of John Jacob Astor, sold for £1.175 million at the same auction house in Devizes. Before that, the record was held for 11 years by a violin that was famously played by the ship’s band as it sank, which sold for £1.1 million in 2013.
Auctioneer Andrew Aldridge commented that the fact the Titanic memorabilia record had been broken twice in one year highlighted the growing demand for such items, combined with the dwindling number of available artifacts.