Fur coat worn byTitanic survivor up for sale
A FUR coat worn by a first-class stewardess aboard the doomed Titanic is expected to fetch up to £80,000 at auction.
Mabel Bennett was in her nightdress when the rescue started and so grabbed the garment for warmth.
She wore the heavy coat for protection from the cold as she boarded a lifeboat and embarked on the Carpathia.
A photograph shows Mrs Bennett, then aged 33, wearing the coat as she stands with other surviving stewardesses.
The image was taken on the deck of the SS Lapland, which was used to transport Titanic’s crew back to England.
More than 1,500 passengers and crew died when the Titanic struck an iceberg and sank in April 1912, on her maiden voyage to New York.
Mrs Bennett, who died aged 96 in 1974, passed the coat to her great-niece in the 1960s as she found it too heavy to wear.
It will be sold at auction by Henry Aldridge and Son in Devizes, Wiltshire, on April 22.
The coat comes with a letter of provenance from Mrs Bennett’s great-niece, which reads: “This coat was worn by my Great Aunt Mabel who was a Stewardess.
“On her rescue from the Titanic she was in her nightdress and this coat was the first garment she snatched for warmth.
“My aunt gave me the coat in the early 60s, because of her advancing years she found the weight of the coat too much for her.”