Almost a century ago, the largest passenger steamship of its time – the Titanic – sank into the cold waters of the Atlantic Ocean. Over 1,500 lives were lost in the tragic event and exactly 706 people survived. In order to determine the cause of the accident, a large-scale plan of the ship was made for the official inquiry into the cause of the tragedy. Approximately one hundred witnesses testified during over one month of hearing and the conclusion of the inquiry was “The loss of the said ship was due to collision with an iceberg brought about by the excessive speed at which the vessel was being navigated.”
Today this 32.5-foot-long cross-section plan of the ship is ready to be sold at an auction that will be held on May 28 in Devizes, U.K. The huge plan comes from an anonymous collector and the auction house – Henry Aldridge & Son – expects the lot to go for approximately £100,000 to £150,000 ($160,000 to $240,000).
Other noteworthy pieces at the auction will be a plan of the ship, one that was made by the draftsmen at Harland and Wolff shipyard, where the vessel was built (estimated to sell for £30,000-£50,000) and a set of keys from one of the first class lavatories on the Titanic (believed to go for £40,000 to £50,000).
