John Jacob Astor was last seen smoking a cigarette and chatting with a passenger as the Titanic sank. His body was recovered from the Atlantic a week later – along with the pocket watch which will be auctioned on Saturday, Sky News writes.
The 47-year-old man sank with the ship in 1912 after helping his wife into a lifeboat.
Instead of trying his luck on another lifeboat, the impeccably dressed businessman, a prominent member of the wealthy Astor family, was last seen smoking a cigarette and chatting with another passenger.
His body was recovered from the Atlantic Ocean seven days after the ship sank, which struck an iceberg on its maiden voyage to New York, and his 14-carat gold Waltham pocket watch, engraved with the initials JJA, was found .
The watch is expected to fetch between £100,000 and £150,000 when it goes up for auction on Saturday at Henry Aldridge & Son auction house in Wiltshire.
Mr. Astor is believed to have been one of the richest men in the world at the time of the Titanic’s sinking, with a net worth of about $87 million — the equivalent of several billion dollars today, auctioneer Andrew Aldridge said.
“At first Astor didn’t think the ship was in serious danger, but later it was obvious it was sinking and the captain began an evacuation after midnight, so he helped his wife into the lifeboat. save number four,” Mr Aldridge said.
Mrs. Astor survived. Her husband’s body was recovered not far from the sinking site.
The watch was entrusted by John Astor’s son Vincent to the son of his father’s executive secretary, William Dobbyn.
“The watch itself has been fully restored after being returned to Mr. Astor’s family and worn by his son,” Aldridge added.
He called it “a unique part of the Titanic story and one of the most important pieces of horological history about the world’s most famous ship.”
