 The hatband was taken off the doomed liner by a young boy |
A sailor's hat ribbon rescued from the sinking Titanic by a young boy has raised �34,000 at auction. The embroidered hatband, which bears the name RMS Titanic in gold thread, is said to be the only such souvenir from the doomed liner.
On April 15, 1912, eight-year-old Marshall Brines Drew took the ribbon with him as he was lowered from the Titanic onto lifeboat number 10 with his aunt.
On Friday, it went under the hammer at Southampton's Hilton Hotel, with a reserve price of �20,000 to �25,000.
Uncle killed
The hatband was found in 1986 after Drew, by then an established US artist, died at the age of 82.
Drew - who for 36 years taught fine art in the New York borough of Queens - rarely spoke of the disaster, saying he wanted to be remembered as an artist in his own right rather than as a Titanic survivor.
While he and his aunt escaped the liner, his uncle, who purchased the ribbon for him in the ship's souvenir shop, was left on board and died.
The sinking of the Titanic claimed the lives of at least 1,532 people when it struck an iceberg on its maiden voyage from Southampton to New York.
One-Minute World News 
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