Titanic key makes £90,000 in auction

A tiny key that might have helped prevent the Belfast-built Titanic sinking has fetched £90,000 at auction.

The key, with the tag "Crows Nest Telephone Titanic" opened the binoculars store, but was not on the ship when it sailed from Southampton. It was in the pocket of an officer transferred off the vessel days before its maiden voyage. He forgot to hand it to his replacement as he left. As a result lookouts had to rely on the naked eye.

Second officer David Blair held the key during the short journey from Belfast, where Titanic was built, to the south coast.

One of the lookouts on the Titanic told an inquiry into the sinking that with the binoculars the Titanic might have been able to dodge the iceberg. On the difference the binoculars might have made, lookout Fred Fleet said: "Well, enough to get out of the way."