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Rostron Watch Sold For Record Amount
Image: Henry Aldridge & Son
The 18-carat gold watch presented to Captain Arthur Rostron, who commanded the Carpathia that rescued Titanic survivors, was sold for a record-breaking amount of £1.56m ($1,976,860) over the weekend. Auctioneers Henry Aldridge & Son, who specialize in handling Titanic memorabilia amongst other valuable items, reported it was the highest fee ever paid for a Titanic item. The previous record was £1.175m for the watch owned by John Jacob Astor. The watch was originally thought to fetch £120,000.
The watch was given by the widows of three prominent men who died on Titanic-Madeline Astor, Marian Thayer and Eleanor Widener-to Rostron in recognition of his service to rescue Titanic survivors. Rostron received the watch while attending at a luncheon given in his honor by Mrs. Astor at her home in June 1912.
The watch was purchased by a private collector (name not disclosed) in the U.S.
Sources
Harry Howard, “Titanic Widows’ Watch Gift to Hero Rescuer: Gold Timepiece Given by Wives of Liner’s Wealthiest…,” Mail Online, November 12, 2024, https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14071719/Titanic-widows-watch-gift-hero-rescuer-Gold-timepiece-given-wives-liners-wealthiest-victims-captain-rescue-ship-1912-disaster-tipped-sell-120-000.html.
Guardian Staff Reporter, “Watch Given to Captain Who Saved 700 Titanic Passengers Sells for £1.56m,” The Guardian, November 16, 2024, https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/nov/16/watch-given-to-captain-who-saved-700-titanic-passengers-sells-for-156m.
Sky News, “Watch Gifted to Captain Who Saved 700 Titanic Passengers Sells for Record Fee,” Sky News, last modified November 18, 2024, https://news.sky.com/story/watch-gifted-to-captain-who-saved-700-titanic-passengers-sells-for-record-fee-13255624.
In Other News
Lawrence, Tom. “Pocket Watch That Stopped When It Went Down With the Titanic in 1912 Goes on Sale for £80,000.” Mail Online, November 4, 2024. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14038713/Pocket-watch-stopped-went-Titanic-1912-goes-sale-80-000.html.
A pocket watch that was frozen in time when its owner went down with the Titanic will go under the hammer for £80,000. Ramon Gomez was one of 1,521 passengers who died when the ill-fated ship hit an iceberg and sank in 1912. Gomez, a Uruguayan first class passenger, supposedly jumped off the vessel whilst holding a deck chair in an attempt to save himself. But it proved futile as his body was recovered from the sea a week later by the Cable Ship MacKay-Bennett. His possessions were removed so they could be sent back to his family, including the Zenith Swiss silver and gilt watch. The watch has remained ‘frozen in time’ at 4.53am, which was two hours and 33 minutes after the ship sank at 21 minutes past two on April 15, 1912.
The auction is set for 16 Nov 2024 at Henry Aldridge & Son, UK. Also being auctioned off is a postcard written on Titanic by Richard William Smith to a friend in Norwich. It was sent from Cork.
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“The Final Voyage of the Princess Sophia.” CBC (Radio), November 7, 2024. https://www.cbc.ca/radio/secretlifeofcanada/sloc-s6-ep15-1.7374689.
This is a radio broadcast of a documentary on the sinking of the Princess Sophia.
It’s been called Canada’s Titanic. 106 years ago the Princess Sophia crashed into a coral reef on route to Vancouver and Victoria. Over 300 passengers died and it was the worst maritime disaster in the Pacific Northwest, so why haven’t we heard more about it?
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Farley, Lloyd. “The Bizarre, Tragic History of the Nazi Titanic Movie.” Collider. Last modified November 10, 2024. https://collider.com/nazi-titanic-movie/.
But the impetus for a third German film about the Titanic was, interestingly, driven by the 1942 classic Casablanca. The success of that film took Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels by surprise, and with Germany already facing setbacks in the war, Casablanca’s anti-fascist narrative was decidedly at odds with the Nazi Party. So Goebbels planned to beat the Allies at their own game, “Nazifying” the Titanic tragedy in a film that would be a showcase for the Germans’ exceptional movie-making skills and moral superiority. Goebbel’s intentions with the film were to frame the disaster as being the direct consequence of Western greed, and those intentions are made very clear from the onset. The main antagonist of the film is E.F. Fürbringer’s Joseph Bruce Ismay, chairman of the White Star Line, who is so intent on increasing the value of his shares in the company that he sends the liner speeding through Iceberg Alley on a quest to break transatlantic crossing records.
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Howard, Harry. “Titanic Widows’ Watch Gift to Hero Rescuer: Gold Timepiece Given by Wives of Liner’s Wealthiest…” Mail Online, November 12, 2024. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14071719/Titanic-widows-watch-gift-hero-rescuer-Gold-timepiece-given-wives-liners-wealthiest-victims-captain-rescue-ship-1912-disaster-tipped-sell-120-000.html.
A superb gold watch three wealthy widows gifted to the captain of the ship that saved them in the Titanic disaster is tipped to sell for £120,000. Madeline Astor, Marian Thayer and Eleanor Widener bought the 18ct gold timepiece from Tiffany & Co after they returned safely to New York on rescue ship the RMS Carpathia. Their husbands – three of the richest men in the world – all perished in the 1912 tragedy. [The case of the watch is engraved “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”]
This is part of the same auction at Henry Aldridge & Son that will take place on 16 Nov 2024.
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“National Catholic Register.” Last modified November 13, 2024. https://denvercatholic.org/mother-frances-cabrini-the-unsinkable-saint-who-missed-the-titanic/.
In April 1912, Mother Frances Cabrini was in Italy with her sisters. Her plans were to visit her foundations in France, Spain and England before sailing back to the United States in mid-April to continue work in New York City. Her sisters in England were eagerly awaiting this visit from their 62-year-old founder and superior. To help make her journey back to the U.S. more comfortable, they bought her a ticket and booked passage on a new ocean liner, the RMS Titanic. While the sisters in England waited, word got to Mother Cabrini that there was trouble at the Columbus Hospital she had established in New York. It was overflowing and there was urgent business to settle connected to a new expansion. She could not wait. She had to get back to raise desperately needed money to proceed with the project. So she changed her plans and left early, sailing from Naples, disappointing the sisters in England who had booked her passage on the Titanic.
Suggested Reading
Rossignol, K. (2012). Titanic 1912: The Original News Reporting of the Sinking of the Titanic. Createspace Independent Publishing Platform.
Wilson, A. (2012). Shadow of the Titanic: The Extraordinary Stories of Those Who Survived. Simon and Schuster.
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