Titanic Survivor’s Lifejacket Sells For $900,000, Becoming One Of The Rarest Maritime Artefacts Ever Auctioned

A lifejacket worn by Titanic survivor Laura Mabel Francatelli during the ship’s 1912 sinking has sold for £670,000 ($900,715 including fees) at an auction in England, far exceeding its estimated value.

The 114-year-old flotation device was sold by Henry Aldridge & Son auctioneers in Devizes to an unidentified telephone bidder. It was expected to fetch between £250,000 and £350,000 ($339,000-$475,000), but the final price more than doubled the upper estimate.

The cream-coloured canvas lifejacket is believed to be one of only a few Titanic lifejackets still in existence. It is the only known lifejacket worn by a Titanic survivor to have been offered at auction.

The flotation device contains 12 cork-filled pockets, along with shoulder rests and side straps. It also carries the signatures of Francatelli and seven other survivors who escaped in Lifeboat No. 1.

The lifejacket was worn by Francatelli when she boarded Lifeboat No. 1 after Titanic struck an iceberg in the North Atlantic during its maiden voyage from England to New York.

At the time, Francatelli was 22 years old and travelling as the secretary to British fashion designer Lady Lucy Duff Gordon and her husband, Sir Cosmo Duff Gordon. All three survived the disaster.

Francatelli escaped Titanic in Lifeboat No. 1

RMS Titanic struck an iceberg at around 11:40 p.m. on April 14, 1912, off Newfoundland and sank in less than three hours.

Francatelli later recalled being helped into a life preserver and taken to the deck as lifeboats were being lowered. She escaped aboard Lifeboat No. 1 with 11 other people.

The lifeboat later became one of the most controversial parts of the disaster. It had space for around 40 people but was launched with only 12 people onboard and did not return to rescue those left in the water after Titanic sank.

Sir Cosmo Duff Gordon later faced allegations that money given to crew members after the rescue discouraged them from returning. Official inquiries did not find wrongdoing.

Because everyone aboard Lifeboat No. 1 survived, the signed lifejacket became a record of the group that escaped together.

Auction house calls it a rare Titanic item

Andrew Aldridge, managing director of Henry Aldridge & Son, described the lifejacket as one of the most significant Titanic items to come to auction.

The auction house said the item remained in Francatelli’s family for decades before entering a private collection nearly 20 years ago.

It was previously displayed at Titanic Belfast, the museum built on the site where the ship was constructed, and at the Titanic Museum in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.

Other Titanic items also sold

The lifejacket was part of an auction featuring Titanic and White Star memorabilia.

A seat cushion from one of Titanic’s lifeboats sold for about £390,000 ($527,000). It was purchased by the owners of Titanic museums in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, and Branson, Missouri.

The lifejacket sale did not break the record for Titanic-related items. In 2024, a gold pocket watch given to the captain of RMS Carpathia, the ship that rescued more than 700 Titanic survivors, sold for £1.56 million, nearly $2 million at the time.

When Titanic began its maiden voyage on April 10, 1912, it was the largest passenger ship in service and was widely described at the time as “unsinkable.”

The ship was carrying around 2,220 people when it sank. Only about 700 survived after being rescued by RMS Carpathia, while more than 1,500 passengers and crew members died.

More than a century later, Francatelli’s lifejacket remains a direct link to the passengers who experienced the disaster.

The auction showed that authentic Titanic artefacts continue to attract strong interest from collectors and historians around the world.

References: CNN, Fox News