Some biscuits are best if eaten with milk and sugar, some of them go well with coffee, but some are […]
Some biscuits are best if eaten with milk and sugar, some of them go well with coffee, but some are soaked in grief and never to be eaten. There is at least one cracker like this, and it has a bitter story to tell.
A crunchy old biscuit that survived the sinking of the Titanic is probably one of the most expensive baked products in the world. It was sold for £15,000 ($23,000) at an auction that was held last year at Henry Aldridge & Son auctioneers in Devizes, Wiltshire.
The new owner of this cracker is a collector from Greece.
This “edible memorabilia” is definitely one of the most unique collectable Titanic items that a person can own. The “Pilot” biscuit was part of a survival kit on one of the lifeboats attached to Titanic.
The biscuit was saved as a souvenir by James and Mabel Fenwick. They were passengers on the RMS Carpathia, heading to Europe for their honeymoon when the ship was called to aid the Titanic and its survivors. James carefully preserved it in a Kodak film envelope together with a note that said, “Pilot biscuit from Titanic lifeboat April 1912”.
Together with the biscuit there were also photo negatives from the rescue operation. The pictures were made by the couple and are probably the best document that depicts the events that occurred that dreadful day.
Auctioneer Andrew Aldridge said: “We don’t know which lifeboat the biscuit came from, but there are no other Titanic lifeboat biscuits in existence to my knowledge. It is incredible that this biscuit has survived such a dramatic event – the sinking of the world’s largest ocean liner – costing 1,500 lives.”