Titanic's Rusty Key To Go Under Hammer

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oi-Staff

By Staff

Wednesday, April 15, 2009, 12:04

On April 10, 1912, a ship was on her maiden voyage from Southampton, England to the New York City. She was the most magnificent invention that the world had ever seen at that point in time. The beauty, for sure, must have called for a lot of envy. Perhaps, that's what made the disaster so huge, huge enough that today we remember the ship not for any thing else, but the disaster in it self. Nobody must have thought that people would soon have to recall the ship with just the journey – the maiden voyage. Have you already started visualizing the ship on your mind? Does the name, 'Titanic', pings you?

On the wee hours of April 15, the ship hit an ice burg, and even before many of the passengers could actually realize, the ship started sinking. Two hours passed, and the waters had gulped the ship completely. 1,500 people died and 700 survived. Today, we live with the memory and the stories that Titanic has left behind.

Over the years, the story of the sink ship has been successfully making news all around. If few talks about the voyage, there are others who talk about the curse the ship had. It was believed that the ship carried the mummy of Amen-Ra, a mummy that carried a curse of death and destruction. Because of the numerous stories that fumes around the ship, 'Titanic', today, it has become difficult to distinguish fact from fiction. So, here you go, there is a chance for you to actually get the feel of some thing that was very, very close to the ship and true, as true as the fact that the colour of sky is blue.

	The key was used for the door of a staff stairwell that was opened so that the crew could start uploading hundreds of mails from the bowels of the ship.

This month a key, which has got a brass tag engraved with 'SERVICE FORd 'E' DECK', is to go under hammer. Wondering what makes this key special? Well, the key belonged to the bereft, Edmund Stone. He was a 33-year-old first-class bedroom steward in the ship when it sank. The key was used for the door of a staff stairwell that was opened so that the crew could start uploading hundreds of mails from the bowels of the ship. “The key will soon be auctioned, and it's expected to fetch more than 50,000 pounds. The key, which has a brass tag engraved with, belonged to Edmund Stone, 33, a first-class bedroom steward, who perished when the Titanic sunk," reports The Telegraph.

After an inquiry into the disaster, Henry Etches, a steward on the ship, revealed how he had met Stone on the stairwell after the ship hit the iceberg. When he asked Stone the time, the first-class bedroom steward replied: "Never mind that; there is something else for you to do."

Etches was then encouraged to help other staff unload hundreds of mail bags, some of them already wet from the sea water, from the Post Office and mail room below E deck. But, eventually attempts to rescue the mail failed and all of the bags were lost when the ship went down. However, by using his key to unlock the door to the stairwell, Stone may have enabled passengers and crew to use the exit to go on deck and get into lifeboats. The key and other artefacts were recovered when Stone's body was recovered from the water.

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