In our boyhood home on the shores of Belfast Lough, any mention of the Titanic was banned from the family’s noisy mealtime discussions. Thanks to our grandfather on my mother’s side being one of Belfast’s more inventive engineers and very much part of the city’s engineering spirit, the sinking of the Titanic by others was regarded as an offensive and unspeakable affront to this great tradition, and totally out-of-bounds for general discussion.
So quite what Mother would make of the auction sale of the only known surviving Titanic lifejacket for £770,000 on Saturday 18th April is perhaps best not considered. The hefty item takes its considerable flotation from cork-filled pockets, but it was never tested afloat as the wearer, Maura Mabel Francatelli, got clear away in Lifeboat No 1.
PUSHING TOWARDS THE €1 MILLION MARK
Afterwards, she had the foresight have the lifejacket signed by the seven other survivors with her, but it had since been stored and largely forgotten. When found and valued, it was expected to fetch an impressive £250,00 to £350,000, but yesterday in a sale of Titanic memorabilia, the gavel fell on the astonishing £770,000, which isn’t so very far short of €1 million.
The lifejacket was manufactured by Fosbury & Co, and subsequently they used the brand-name Fosco for some of their products, including a range of kapok-stuffed buoyancy aids which, back in the day, were accepted by the adult world as being lifejackets suitable for sailing safety.
Worth nearly a Million - the only known surviving and fully-provenanced Titanic lifejacket
Thus when finally allowed to go sailing on our own in the open 14ft Insect with her very modest buoyancy tanks, it was with the parental insistence that we wear lifejackets when sailing, for which the minimal Fosco was considered sufficient. We interpreted the parental rule to mean we only had to wear them when actually under sail, and anyway if we were berthed alongside some rock or rough jetty in a remote bay, the minimally-used Fosco “lifejackets” were re-purposed as fenders.
THE WORD FROM THE WEST
Pierce Purcell of Galway Maritime has been an eloquent advocate of buoyancy use for decades, and he says that we have moved on a bit. The use of lifejackets is broadly accepted (for it is of course mandatory in all boats under 22ft), but today the problem is ensuring that people ensure their lifejackets receive their annual check before the beginning of the season, which is RIGHT NOW.
