A life jacket worn by a Titanic survivor sold for $904,500 at an auction Saturday (April 19), far exceeding expectations in what auctioneers called a "once in a generation" sale. The flotation device, worn by first-class passenger Laura Mabel Francatelli as she escaped the doomed ocean liner in 1912, shattered its estimated selling price of between $339,000 and $474,000.

According to UK auction house Henry Aldridge and Son, the beige vest is the only life jacket from a Titanic survivor ever to go under the hammer. The historic garment features 12 cork-filled canvas pockets with shoulder rests and side straps, and bears signatures from Francatelli and other survivors who shared her lifeboat.

An unidentified telephone bidder purchased the life jacket at the Devizes, England auction house. The final price includes the buyer's premium fee.

Francatelli was traveling as secretary to fashion designer Lucy Duff Gordon when the Titanic struck an iceberg in the North Atlantic at 11:40 p.m. on April 14, 1912. She boarded lifeboat number one alongside her employer and Cosmo Duff Gordon, Lucy's husband. All three survived, though the lifeboat launched carrying only 12 people despite having capacity for 40. Its failure to rescue additional survivors from the frigid water became controversial.

The auction also featured a seat cushion from one of the Titanic's lifeboats, which sold for $527,000 to the owners of Titanic museums in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, and Branson, Missouri. The cushion originally belonged to the friend of Richard William Smith, a London tea importer who drowned when the ship sank.

"These record-breaking prices illustrate the continuing interest in the Titanic story, and the respect for the passengers and crew whose stories are immortalized by these items of memorabilia," auctioneer Andrew Aldridge said.

The life jacket had previously been displayed at Titanic Belfast, the museum at the site where the ship was built, and at the world's largest Titanic Museum in Pigeon Forge. AThe vest was sold by someone who "has decided it's time to pass on the baton to another collector."

The RMS Titanic, billed as the world's most luxurious ocean liner and described as "practically unsinkable," struck an iceberg off Newfoundland during its maiden voyage from England to New York. The ship sank in less than three hours on April 15, 1912. Approximately 1,500 of the 2,200 passengers and crew died, while only about 700 survived.

The auction took place during the same week as the 114th anniversary of the tragedy. Southampton marked the anniversary at a memorial on April 14.

The record auction price for Titanic memorabilia remains at almost $2 million, paid in 2024 for a gold pocket watch given to the captain of RMS Carpathia, the ship that rescued 700 Titanic survivors.

Mike Jones

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