Key that could have saved Titanic put up for auction

LONDON: It was the key that could have saved the Titanic from disaster in 1912.

The simple piece of metal was for a locker that stored a pair of binoculars in the crow's nest to look out for dangers in the distance, including icebergs.

But, a sailor called David Blair forgot to leave behind the key as the ship set off on its maiden voyage. Without it, his shipmates were unable to open the locker and spot the iceberg which the ship had hit and sank.

Nearly 95 years later, the key which had the potential to save the luxury liner is up for auction, along with a postcard from Blair telling of his disappointment at not being on the maiden voyage, the 'Daily Mail' reported here today.

"We think this key is one of the most important artefacts from the Titanic to have come to light. Blair was the second officer in charge of the crow's nest and he had the key, which we believe was for the binoculars locker.

"A few days before the Titanic sailed he was bumped off the ship, a decision which probably saved his life. But in Blair's rush to leave Titanic he carried this key off with him in his pocket. It is the key that had the potential to save the Titanic," Alan Aldridge of auctioneers Henry Aldridge and Sons in Wiltshire was quoted as saying.

The key is expected to fetch up to 70,000 pounds, according to sources at the auction house.

On its maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York, the British luxury liner struck an iceberg about 153 kms south of the Grand Banks of Newfoundland just before midnight on April 14, 1912, and subsequently sank.

Out of the more than 2,220 persons aboard, about 1,513 had died, including a number of British and American millionaires.