Auction to offer ship artifacts on anniversary

An admission ticket to the launch of the Titanic and a first-class dinner menu for the ocean liner's first night at sea are among dozens of artifacts related to the doomed ship being auctioned this month, exactly 100 years after it struck an iceberg and sank on its maiden voyage.

The Bonhams auction on April 15 also includes a handwritten account by Arthur Rostron, the captain of the Carpathia, the first ship to arrive on the scene after picking up the distress call.

The letter, with a pre-sale estimate of $90,000 to $120,000, offers "a full account and timeline of what happened from the moment the Titanic struck the iceberg to the time the ship sank", Gregg K. Dietrich, Bonhams' maritime art consultant, said on Friday.