“I never had any ambition other than to go to sea.” – Capt. Arthur Rostron
A simple gold pocket watch might not seem like much. But one recently sold for nearly $2 million at a recent auction. A quick reading of the engraving shows this was no ordinary pocket watch.
The 18-carat Tiffany & Co. watch was gifted to Capt. Arthur Rostron by three women who had survived a shipwreck like no other – they had been on the Titanic. The watch was given to Rostron who steered the RMS Carpathia to where the famous ship had sank in 1912, and saved more than 700 people.
Rostron was regarded as a hero for what he did the night the Titanic sank, and his crew was also honored for their bravery.
18-carat gold pocket watch. Photo by Henry Aldridge and Son
The Carpathia was making its way to the Mediterranean Sea when a distress call from the Titanic came through in the morning hours of April 15th, 1912. Rostron made his way to the cabin and ordered the boat to turn around and head full steam toward the Titanic. They navigated through the perilous icebergs that had been the Titanic’s downfall.
Once the Carpathia arrived, the saw that the Titanic had already sunk, with more than 1,500 people lost. But the crew found more than 20 lifeboats full of survivors and rescued them. They took the more than 700 passengers back to New York. Rostron was awarded the U.S. Congressional Gold Medal by President William Howard Taft and was later knighted by King George V.
18-carat gold pocket watch. Photo by Henry Aldridge and Son
His pocket watch set the record for memorabilia sold from the shipwreck. Auctioneers Henry Aldridge and Son sold the watch to a private collector for 1.56 million British pounds ($1,968,408 USD).
One of the women who gave the watch to Rostron by the widow of John Jacob Astor. Astor was the richest man to die in the disaster. The other two women were widows of two other wealthy businessmen who died on the ship as it sank.
Astor’s own pocket watch, which was recovered when his body was found seven days after the ship sank, had held the record for the highest sold Titanic item. It was sold for nearly $1.5 million at the same auction house.
Auctioneer Andrew Aldridge said that fascination of the shipwreck has left an enduring legacy and a need to collect what is slowly becoming fewer and fewer artifacts from the wreck. “Every man, woman and child had a story to tell, and those stories are told over a century later through the memorabilia,” he said.
