Titanic Jacket Sold For 8 Crore In Titanic Survivor Life Jacket Auction : The demand for items related to the famous Titanic, the world’s worst maritime disaster, has not diminished even today. A life jacket worn by a Titanic passenger was sold for 6.70 lakh pounds, or approximately Rs. 8.39 crore in Indian rupees, at an auction held in England recently, creating a new record.
Who was wearing this life jacket?
• The life jacket belonged to Laura Mabel Francatelli, a first-class passenger who had been rescued from the sinking ship by a lifeboat.
• The most special thing is that this jacket bears the signatures of Laura and some of the other passengers who survived with her.
• The auction was organised by Henry Aldridge & Son in England. Although its initial price was estimated to be between 2.5 and 3.5 lakh pounds, an anonymous bidder who bid over the telephone bought it for a much higher price.
• Auctioneer Andrew Aldridge said that this record-breaking price reflects people’s continued interest in the Titanic story and the respect they have for those passengers.
Lifeboat seat cushions also auctioned
• Another Titanic item – a lifeboat seat cushion – was also sold at the auction. The owners of the Titanic Museum in the US bought it for £390,000.
Laura’s Lifeboat No. 1 was controversial.
• Laura Francatelli was travelling with her owner, fashion designer Lucy Duff Gordon, and her husband Cosmo Duff Gordon. They were rescued in lifeboat number 1. The lifeboat had a capacity of 40 but was carrying only 12 passengers. It was heavily criticised at the time for not turning back to save other drowning people from the icy water.
1500 people lost their lives.
• On April 15, 1912, the giant ‘unsinkable’ ship, en route from England to New York, struck an iceberg and sank within hours. About 1,500 of the 2,200 passengers on board lost their lives in this horrific disaster.
• It is worth noting that the record for the highest price sold for Titanic-related items is a gold pocket watch, which was sold for 1.56 million pounds in 2024. The watch was given as a gift to the captain of the RMS Carpathia, which rescued about 700 passengers from the sinking Titanic.
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