Titanic life jacket sells for £670,000 at auction
Only surviving Titanic life jacket from 1912 disaster sold to collector, fetching more than double its estimated price
Quick Look
- A life jacket worn by Titanic survivor Laura Mabel Francatelli has been sold at auction for £670,000 - more than double its estimated price of £250,000-£350,000.
- The first-class passenger used the vest, featuring 12 pockets and signed by survivors, before entering a lifeboat in 1912.
- It is the only Titanic life jacket to be sold at auction in the 114 years since the ship sank.
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Why It Matters
The Titanic sank on April 15, 1912, after hitting an iceberg in the North Atlantic. Approximately 1,500 of the 2,200 people aboard died, making it one of the deadliest commercial peacetime marine disasters in modern history. About 700 people survived.
A life jacket worn by a Titanic survivor has been sold at auction to a collector for £670,000. It is the only life jacket from the Titanic to be sold at auction in the 114 years since the ship sank, going under the hammer at Henry Aldridge & Son in Devizes, Wiltshire.
First class passenger Laura Mabel Francatelli, who was one of about 700 people to survive the tragedy in 1912, used the vest before entering a lifeboat. Auctioneer Andrew Aldridge said he was "ecstatic". He added: "It reflects the ongoing interest and passion for the story of the Titanic, and its passengers and crew."
He previously said the vest was "the only lifejacket from a survivor to emerge at auction in 114 years so it is literally a once in a lifetime opportunity for collectors". Francatelli and fellow survivors had signed the flotation device, which features 12 pockets and is fitted with shoulder rests and side straps.
The jacket sold for hundreds of thousands of pounds more than expected, as it was estimated to sell for between £250,000 and £350,000. A seat cushion from one of the Titanic's lifeboats was sold at the same auction for £390,000. The cushion was originally bought by the friend of London tea importer Richard William Smith, who drowned on the ship when it hit an iceberg in the North Atlantic in 1912.
Smith, who was on his way to meet fellow tea importer TG Matthews in Brooklyn, New York, was among the 1,500 who died in the disaster, although his body was never identified. Its buyer was the Titanic Museum Attraction in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, and Branson, Missouri, and the seat is to go on exhibition, the auctioneer said.
The auction comes as Southampton marked the 114th anniversary of the RMS Titanic tragedy at a memorial on 14 April.
Open Questions
- How was the life jacket preserved for 114 years?
- What happened to Laura Mabel Francatelli after surviving the Titanic?
