http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/7008300.stm
Saturday, 22 September 2007, 17:46 GMT 18:46 UK
Titanic key is sold for £90,000
A tiny key that might have helped prevent the Belfast-built Titanic
sinking has fetched £90,000 at auction.
The key, with the tag "Crows Nest Telephone Titanic" opened the
binoculars store, but was not on the ship when it sailed from
Southampton.
It was in the pocket of an officer transferred off the vessel days
before its maiden voyage. He forgot to hand it to his replacement as
he left.
As a result lookouts had to rely on the naked eye.
Titanic sank on her maiden voyage from Southampton to New York on 15
April 1912 with the loss of 1,522 lives.
Auctioneer Henry Aldridge said the key was sold to an anonymous
telephone bidder who received applause as the hammer went down.
He said bidding for the key at the sale in Devizes, Wiltshire, was
fierce.
"We had several telephone bidders as well as people in the auction
room and the gentleman who was successful was very happy.
"But I can tell you the man he outbid was not, he was very
disappointed."
Other items in the sale included a rare launch ticket from Belfast
which fetched £32,000 and a postcard sent home by a passenger on-board
which sold for £17,000.
Second officer David Blair held the key during the short journey from
Belfast, where Titanic was built, to the south coast.
One of the lookouts on the Titanic told an inquiry into the sinking
that with the binoculars the Titanic might have been able to dodge the
iceberg.
On the difference the binoculars might have made, lookout Fred Fleet
said: "Well, enough to get out of the way."
Mr Blair was disappointed to be moved off the ship at Southampton, but
the transfer saved his life. He kept the key as a memento.
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