Nov. 10 — The only known surviving original insurance document covering the steel hull of the RMS Titanic is set to go under the hammer in the United Kingdom 114 years after the ill-fated ocean liner sank in the North Atlantic, auctioneers announced.
The rare document is scheduled to be auctioned on November 21 by Henry Aldridge & Son, a specialist auction house based in Devizes, Wiltshire. The artifact is estimated to fetch between £30,000 and £50,000 ($39,000 to $65,000).
According to the policy ledger, New York-based Atlantic Mutual Insurance Company covered the liner’s hull for $100,000 in 1912 currency—an amount equivalent to approximately $3.5 million in current valuation.
The policy was signed on March 27, 1912, just 19 days before the White Star Line flagship struck an iceberg during its maiden voyage from Southampton to New York on the night of April 14–15, leading to its sinking with the loss of more than 1,500 lives. Records indicate that following the disaster, the full insurance indemnity was settled within 30 days.
Typewritten on standard corporate forms, the document was issued to the Oceanic Steam Navigation Company, the operational corporate entity behind the White Star Line. Notable among its contents is a handwritten codicil inscribed in black ink at the foot of the document, stipulating an essential transit provision:”To include the trip from Belfast to Southampton sailing on or after March 30th [31st] 1912 at 7 P.M. and the risk of trials on said trip if any.”
This handwritten amendment ensured the vessel remained insured during its sea trials and repositioning voyage from the Harland & Wolff shipyards in Belfast before taking on paying passengers at Southampton.
“To our knowledge, no other primary hull insurance document for the Titanic has ever appeared at public auction,” Henry Aldridge & Son noted, highlighting the paper’s historical uniqueness.
Founded in the United States in 1838, Atlantic Mutual grew to become one of the premier marine underwriters in North America by the mid-19th century, carrying concentrated exposure on the Titanic compared to other single syndicates. Decades later, the underwriter played a significant role in settling commercial property claims stemming from the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in New York, before losing its licensing authority and entering formal liquidation in 2011.
Source: BBC News Dispatches, Henry Aldridge & Son Auction Records & Reuters