Last Titanic menu auctioned for 76k

PA

A menu detailing the last meal served to first-class passengers on the Titanic has been sold at auction for £76,000.

The BBC reports that the menu was auctioned in Wiltshire along with hundreds of other items from the ship, including a set of keys for the storeroom where the ship's lifeboat lanterns were kept.

The keys were sold for £59,000 to an American collector.

The menu, which is dated 14 April 1912 - the day the liner hit an iceberg and sank, killing 1,522 people - featured several courses.

Dishes served included eggs Argenteuil, consommé fernier and chicken a la Maryland.

Auctioneer Andrew Aldridge said: "It's a fascinating snapshot of life on board as a first-class passenger.

"What we have to consider is that the Titanic was regarded as the finest restaurant afloat and this does illustrate that point. There are over 40 different options for one lunch."

The menu survived because it was on the table of first-class passenger Dr Washington Dodge, a prominent banker from San Francisco who was travelling with is wife and son. The menu had been in Ruth Dodge's handbag when she escaped on board a lifeboat. Both she and her son survived.

The auction took place yesterday afternoon at Henry Aldrigge and Sons auction house in Devizes.

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