A menu of the first dinner served to first class passengers aboard the doomed ocean liner Titanic has sold for £46,000 at a sale in Devizes.


It was among 400 items being auctioned as part of the the sale organised by Henry Aldridge & Son at their Bath Road Business Centre saleroom on Saturday to mark the centenary of the sinking.

The opulent menu is dated April 10 1912, three days before the liner hit an iceberg on her maiden voyage to New York and sank, killing 1,522 people.
It features several courses, including roast duckling and fillet of veal.

Auctioneer Andrew Aldridge said: “Menus from the Titanic are among the most sought after memorabilia from the doomed liner.”

The menu was the property of Charles Caswell, a 34-year-old first class steward from Southampton. Mr Caswell sent the menu to his wife Hilda when Titanic stopped in Queenstown, Northern Ireland, but he later died when the ship sank.


Also in the sale was a a gold medal awarded to James Bisset, the second officer of the Carpathia, which was the first rescue ship to arrive at the scene of the sinking. He later became Commodore of the Cunard Line.

Mr Aldridge said: “After the survivors of the Titanic disaster were picked up by the Carpathia, a committee was formed by a group of surviving first class passengers to reward the crew of the Carpathia and the captain, Sir Arthur Rostron, with the silver loving up and medals for all of the crew.

“This is only the second gold Carpathia medal to be offered in the last 25 years and is thought to be the most senior officer’s medal ever to go under the auctioneer’s hammer.”


The medal sold for £41,000.