Items belonging to a man interred at sea following the Titanic’s sinking in April 1912 are anticipated to fetch over $100,000 at auction next month.
This collection has been held by Frederick Sutton’s family for over a century. Sutton, aged 61, was a first-class passenger aboard the vessel, making his way back from England after a journey undertaken “on the advice of his physician for an undisclosed illness” the previous month, as stated by Henry Aldridge & Son auctioneers.
Among the items being auctioned are a first-class passenger list, the reported. Additionally, inside an “extremely rare canvas personal effects bag sewn on board C.S. Mackay-Bennett” are a gold watch with a chain, a tie clip, a pocket book, a knife, three silver spoons, a gold seal ring bearing the initials “F.S.”, $13 in loose coins contained within a purse, and other articles.
His son-in-law retrieved the bag of possessions in Halifax approximately two weeks subsequent to the sinking.
These items are scheduled for auction on November 22 in Devizes, Wiltshire. Another segment of the collection will be offered for sale in April 2026, marking 114 years since the vessel’s demise.
A first-class passenger who survived recalled sitting beside Sutton in the dining room the weekend prior to the sinking, at which time Sutton mentioned feeling unwell.
“Following the iceberg collision, an older male passenger was reportedly trapped in his cabin; some have theorized this could have been Mr. Sutton,” stated the auction house.
Sutton resided in cabin D-50. He was described as “one of the extremely limited number of first-class passengers buried at sea.”
The RMS Titanic, the largest ship globally at the time of its construction, went down in the early morning hours of April 15, 1912, under three hours after striking an iceberg.
The Titanic had embarked on a journey from Southampton, England, bound for .
A little more than 700 individuals—fewer than a third of all crew members and passengers combined—survived the disaster.
Christine Rousselle of Digital contributed to this article.