Photo of iceberg believed to have sunk Titanic up for sale

Thursday, October 22, 2015, 1:56 PM - A photograph of the iceberg believed to have sunk the Titanic is to be sold at auction this weekend, but experts say there is no way to be sure that the iceberg pictured was responsible for the demise of the world's most famous ill-fated ocean liner.

On April 10, 1912, the RMS Titanic set off on its maiden voyage from Southampton, England. It launched across the Atlantic Ocean towards its destination of New York City, carrying 1,316 passengers and 885 crew members.

Heralded as an 'unsinkable' ship by shipbuilders White Star Line, the Titanic met an untimely and tragic end on the night of April 14. Despite reports warning of dangerous sea ice from nearby ship, the Californian, the Titanic collided with an iceberg and sank to the bottom of the sea.

Of the 2,224 people on board, 1,514 perished, while 710 survived on the ship's 16 lifeboats.

The grainy black and white photo shows an iceberg floating in the open waters of the north Atlantic Ocean. It was captured by the chief steward aboard the SMS Prinz Adalbert, who at the time, was unaware that the Titanic had gone down in the area.

In notes that accompanied the picture, the photographer wrote that the iceberg had three crown-like points, and a red streak down one side that he believed was left by the impact with the hull of the Titanic.

The chief steward had three of his crew mates sign the message as witness to the discovery. It was eventually was passed on to the law firm defending White Star Line in court following the accident. It hung in the firm's office for nearly 90 years, from 1913 to 2002, when the firm finally closed.

It is now in the hands of Henry Aldridge and Son, the British auction house that will be selling the historic photograph on Saturday, October 24. According to Aldridge, the image is expected to sell for between $15,000 and $20,000 USD.

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But the subject of this sought after photo isn't the only possible culprit in the Titanic's demise.

"There are two photos of icebergs from the area on the day following the collision, both of which purport to be the Titanic iceberg," said Grant Bigg, an environmental scientist at the University of Sheffield in England. Bigg co-wrote a 2014 study about the number of icebergs floating in the Atlantic Ocean in 1912. Despite tales that the north ocean was inundated with icebergs that year, further research showed that it was quite an average year for the frozen formations.

During his research, Bigg came across the image below. It was found in the U.S. Coast Guard archive, and was taken by Captain William George Squares de Carteret if the SS Minia.

Surviving passengers of the Titanic were able to provide rough dimensions indicating the iceberg's size on the night of the epic sinking. According to Bigg, these approximations closely match the size of the iceberg in the second photograph, measuring about 120 metres long by 30 metres wide.

"I personally think the Carteret photo is the more likely candidate, largely because of the shape and dimensions," Bigg told Live Science.

Though there is no definite answer as to which iceberg was the one involved in the historic disaster, the photograph to be sold this weekend represents an integral part of history and will surely be a prized addition to any historian's collection.

Source: LiveScience

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