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Warsaw-born Titanic survivor's blanket auctioned in England

PR dla Zagranicy
Peter Gentle 13.04.2012 07:15
A blanket wrapped around a Warsaw-born Titanic survivor as he boarded a lifeboat went under the hammer yesterday in an auction marking the 100th anniversary of the disaster.

RMS
RMS Titanic departing Southampton, England, on April 10, 1912: photo – FGO Stuart wikicommins CC

The sale was held by Partridge and Bray auctioneers in Liverpool, England, with the monogrammed blanket fetching 5400 pounds (27,300 zloty).

Bert Pickard, formerly Bert Trembisky, was 32 years old when he boarded the RMS Titanic on its maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York on 10 April 1912.

The Polish-Jewish immigrant, who was aiming to start a new life in San Francisco having worked in France and England, was travelling third class on the ill-fated journey.

Like many passengers, he was asleep when the vessel crashed into the iceberg. After the shock, he and his fellow cabin-mates got dressed immediately and ventured out on deck.

When they tried to return for their belongings, the stewards forbade them.

Pickard broke away from the group, managed to climb all the way up to first class - using a ladder for the final level - and managed to find a place in a lifeboat.

He was handed a monogrammed blanket, with the initials WSL, referring to the operator of the RMS Titanic, White Star Line.

By a twist of fate, Pickard and the other passengers in the lifeboat were ultimately saved by the RMS Carpathia, named after the Carpathian mountains that stretch across southern Poland.

The passengers disembarked in New York on 18 April, from where Pickard travelled on to San Francisco.

1512 of the 2225 people on board the Titanic died in the disaster. The death toll took in 820 passengers and 692 members of the crew. (nh/pg)

tags: Titanic
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