It is the most famous ocean liner of all time, and despite all the talk in the more than 100 years since its tragic sinking, experts are convinced that many treasures remain to be discovered. The Titanic will go down in history as the great mystery to be unraveled, and a century later, pieces that crop up here and there remain collectors' favourites.
It is not for less, because they are authentic historical treasures. The latest example, a photograph showing the supposed iceberg that caused the terrible sinking of the ship, auctioned in 2020 in the United Kingdom.
A snapshot taken by Captain W. Wood, captain of the ocean liner SS Etonian, presumably two days after the tragedy that cost the lives of almost two thousand people. The photograph, an object valued by collectors and which at the time has already been sold for more than 45,000 euros, is accompanied by a letter signed by the captain of the ship himself, which includes details such as the date and the geographical coordinates of the place: " April 12 at 4:00 p.m., 41°50 N 49°50 W".
An image that arrived in New York, the city where the SS Etonian did dock, which was lucky enough to reach its destination. Captain Wood had the photo developed and sent a copy to the great-grandfather of the image's current owner, Billy Tucker, along with a handwritten letter stating that it was the same iceberg that the Titanic would hit shortly after.
"I am sending you a photo of the sea, the Etonian sailing into a gale and the iceberg that sank the Titanic," Captain Wood explains in his letter, "We crossed the ice slopes 40 hours before he [Titanic] and in daylight , so I saw the ice easily and got a photo."
The image, in black and white, is the only one that would exist of the cursed iceberg -it seems to coincide with the sketches and descriptions of the survivors and the experts- that would mark a before and after in history by causing the shipwreck, which It took place at 10:20 p.m. on April 14, 1912.
The Henry Aldridge Auction House
