London: A gold pocket watch that was presented in gratitude to the captain of a steamship for rescuing over 700 passengers of Titanic in the 1912 disaster fetched a record-breaking $1.96 million in auction.
Captain Arthur Rostron received the 18-carat Tiffany & Co gold watch from Madeleine Astor and two other widows of John Jacob Astor, a wealthy business man aboard the ship.
The businessman was among 1,500 others who lost their lives when the ship sank in its maiden voyage in the Atlantic, according to auctioneers Henry Aldridge & Son of Devizes, Wiltshire.
Captain Arthur Rostron, who was the skipper of RMS Carpathia, was on the way to Europe from New York when the ship’s wireless operator received a distress call saying ‘ We’ve struck ice, come at once’.
Rostron changed the course of the ship, heading towards where wreckage of the Titanic with lifeboats was floating around, and rescued 705 survivors.
Auctioneer Andrew Aldridge said the watch was "presented principally in gratitude for Rostron's bravery in saving those lives, because without Mr Rostron, those 700 people wouldn't have made it".
The watch with the inscription "Presented to Captain Rostron with the heartfelt gratitude and appreciation of three survivors of the Titanic April 15th 1912 Mrs John B Thayer, Mrs John Jacob Astor and Mrs George D Widener,’ was given to Rostron by Mrs Astor at a lunch at the family’s mansion in New York.
Another Titanic memorabilia to set previous highest amount at auction was a gold pocket watch recovered from John Jacob Astor's body, fetching $1.46 million.
The watch, engraved with the initials JJA was recovered a week after the disaster when Astor's body was pulled out.
The violin that was played at the time of Titanic’s sinking held the record for the highest amount for a Titanic item for 11 years, selling for $1.38 million in 2013.