A pocket watch used by the wealthiest passenger aboard the Titanic sold for six times its initial price, reaching over a million dollars. The watch belonged to entrepreneur John Jacob Astor and was estimated to sell for $200,000 when it went up for auction in Wiltshire.
Matching another Titanic artifact, but when taxes and fees are considered, the buyer will pay close to 1.5 million. Auctioneer Andrew Aldridge described the total cost as a “world record.”
The highest amount previously paid for a Titanic artifact was for a violin, which also sold for $1.1 million, but with taxes and fees at that time, it reached $1.3 million. This means the watch is now the highest amount ever paid for a single item from the transatlantic ship.
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A violin case belonging to the man who led the orchestra on deck as the ship sank in 1912 also fetched $300,000 at a previous auction. The two pieces of maritime memorabilia were part of a sale in Devizes of over 280 lots related to ocean liners.
Eerie audio recordings before the submersible’s implosion visiting the Titanic are revealed
A new excerpt from a documentary about the Titanic submersible disaster shows previously unpublished audio recordings of tapping noises heard by rescuers during their search for the vehicle last year.
In June 2023, five passengers died when the submersible they were in imploded while on a trip to explore the Titanic wreckage. For several days, rescue teams from around the world searched for the transport after it lost contact with its mothership just before the two-hour dive, with many initially hopeful that they were still alive.
However, after several days of searching in a remote area of the North Atlantic, debris was discovered 500 meters from the Titanic’s bow on June 22. On June 20, two days after the search began, Canadian Navy sonar picked up noises.
At that time, “tapping noises” were reported at 30-minute intervals. “That changed everything,” said American journalist Ryan Cooke in the documentary excerpt. The sounds resemble a rhythmic and repeated knocking on a door. “It’s as if someone is making that sound, and the fact that it repeats is really unusual,” said former navy submarine captain Ryan Ramsey in the excerpt.
The audio, never before made public, was provided to the documentary by the Canadian Air Force team that led the search and rescue operation. Sounds in the Titan search were captured with devices called sonobuoys, which can be dropped from planes to detect noises and avoid interference with ship sounds.
The excerpt describes how the development gave hope to many that the five passengers might still be alive. There is still no confirmed explanation for the noises, and an investigation by US and Canadian authorities into the disaster is still ongoing.
Titan: Who died in the submersible?
On the submersible were Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood with his 19-year-old son Suleman, British explorer Hamish Harding, French explorer Paul-Henry Nargeolet, and OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush.
At that time, according to submarine expert Paul Hanken, “five main pieces” were found that they recognized as “Titan remnants.” The first thing found was “the nose cone, which was outside the pressure hull.” “We found the bell from the front of the pressure hull, and this was the first indication that there was a catastrophic event shortly after.”
What happened to the submersible?
As part of the search efforts in 2023, the US Coast Guard had reported via social media that they had found “a debris field within the search area near the Titanic,” at a depth of about 3800 meters. Rescue efforts began as soon as they received the notice and focused on an area located approximately 1450 kilometers from Cape Cod, Massachusetts.
The search involved personnel and resources from the USA, Canada, France, and the UK, with airplanes, vessels, and underwater drones. The mission to see the remains of the ship, sunk in 1912 after colliding with an iceberg, was supposed to last ten hours. OceanGate Expeditions was the owner and operator of the submersible, used to conduct deep-sea expeditions.
On its website, the company offered eight-day, seven-night trips to visit the Titanic wreckage, which lies about 3,800 meters deep, for an approximate price of $250,000.
Where are the remains of the Titanic?
The remains of the Titanic are located 3800 meters deep on the seafloor and about 600 kilometers off the coast of Newfoundland in Canada. In recent decades, the area has been visited several times by scientists, explorers, tourists, and of course, filmmakers like James Cameron.
Thousands of objects have been recovered showing what a top-tier ship was like at that time; however, over time, the condition of the Titanic has deteriorated due to the constant growth of bacteria. Therefore, starting in 2001, UNESCO included the remains in its famous Convention on the Protection of Underwater Cultural Heritage.
What happened to the Titanic?
The passenger line responsible for the Titanic was the largest in the world at the beginning of the 20th century. On April 15, 1912, the ship sank after hitting an iceberg during its journey from Southampton (England) to New York (USA).
Of the 2,200 passengers who embarked on the journey, more than 1,500 lost their lives. The wreckage of the ship was discovered in 1985, and since then, specialists have begun submarine trips to understand what happened. Later on, the experience was opened to tourists.
For many years, it was believed that the Titanic had sunk in one piece. However, the 1985 expedition led by Jean-Louis Michel and Robert Ballard changed the entire historical perspective. Thanks to that research, experts determined that the Titanic had “split” near the surface before sinking.
Why was it called the Titanic?
As the largest ship in the world at that time, the name Titanic was given to it to recall the famous “Titans” of Greek mythology. The ship was built in the city of Belfast, and on the day it set sail, April 10, dozens of international media covered the event.
Titanic was part of a spectacular project of three liners along with the RMS Olympic and the HMHS Britannic. For the White Star Line company, this initiative would revolutionize the world. It was a key moment in the face of tough competition with its rival, Cunard.
Read also: The True Story of the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral
Culturally, the Titanic has become a worldwide phenomenon that has given rise to movies, books, poems, and songs about the shipwreck. Of course, the most famous reference is the 1997 film directed by James Cameron that catapulted Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio to fame, winning eleven Oscars.
This story was written in spanish by Miguel Fernández in Cultura Colectiva
