Humble key 'could have saved' Titanic

The simple item was for a locker that stored the crows nest’s binoculars and belonged to an officer who was taken off the luxury liner at the last moment.

In his haste, second officer David Blair forgot to hand the key over to his replacement and took it with him.

As a result none of the lookouts on board could access the binoculars, despite asking other officers for them.

Lookout Fred Fleet, who survived the disaster, later told the official inquiry into the disaster that if they had binoculars they would have seen the iceberg sooner.

When asked by a US senator chairing the inquiry how much sooner, Mr Fleet replied: "Enough to get out of the way."

The 95-year mystery of where the key was has only now been unlocked after it was made available for sale at auction.

Also for sale is a postcard Mr Blair wrote to his sister-in-law expressing his disappointment at missing out on the historic trip.

Alan Aldridge, of auctioneers Henry Aldridge and Sons in Devizes, Wilts, said: "We think this key is one of the most important artefacts from the Titanic to have come to light.

"Mr Blair was the second officer who was in charge of the crows nest and he had the key, which we believe was for the binoculars locker in the nest.

"A few days before the Titanic sailed he was bumped off the ship, a decision which probably saved his life.

"But in Blair’s rush to leave Titanic he carried this key off with him in his pocket and forgot to hand it to his replacement, Charles Lightoller.

"Obviously he only realised this after Titanic had left Southampton and kept the key as a memento.

"But had Lightoller had the key then there probably would have been a pair of binoculars in the crows nest.

"It is supposition but, in lookout Fleet’s own words, they would have seen the iceberg sooner with the binoculars.

"It is the key that had the potential to save the Titanic."

Mr Blair, from Broughty Ferry, Forfarshire, sailed on the Titanic from Belfast to Southampton on April 3, 1912.

Lookout Fleet told the inquiry that he recalled 37-year-old Mr Blair having the binoculars with him during the two-day trip.

He had been due to be the second officer for Titanic’s doomed maiden voyage to New York on April 10 but was told at the 11th hour he wasn’t going.

Bosses at White Star Line decided Henry Wilde, the chief officer of the Titanic’s sister ship the Olympic, should be transferred to the doomed liner.

As a result everybody was moved down a rank but Mr Blair was deemed too senior to take up the position of third officer and was tasked to another ship.

Although the move would prove to save Mr Blair’s life, he wrote of his disappointment in a postcard he sent to his sister-in-law days before Titanic left Southampton.

In the card, which is also up for auction, he wrote: "Am afraid I shall have to step out to make room for chief officer of the Olympic. This is a magnificent ship, I feel very disappointed I am not to make her first voyage."

The 46,000 tonne Titanic struck the iceberg in the north Atlantic at 11.45pm on April 14 and sank at 2.20am on April 15.

Some 1,522 people drowned in the tragedy, including Wilde and first officer William Murdoch.

According to the official US inquiry into the sinking, Mr Fleet said he had previously used binoculars on the RMS Oceanic, a trans-Atlantic liner owned by White Star Line.

Senator Smith, chair of the inquiry, asked Fleet: "You had a pair from Belfast to Southampton?"

Fleet: "Yes, sir, but none from Southampton to New York."

Asked where they went, he said: "We do not know. We only know we never got a pair."

Smith: "Suppose you had glasses...could you have seen this black object a greater distance?"

Fleet: "We could have seen it a bit sooner."

Smith: "How much sooner?"

Fleet: "Well, enough to get out of the way."

Smith: "Were you disappointed that you had no glasses:"

Fleet: "Yes, sir."

Mr Aldridge said: "There was a pair of binoculars on the bridge and were a pair for the crows nest because Blair had them just days before.

"But the failure to provide the lookouts with them could have been down to Lightoller not knowing where they were. He would have found them had he been able to open the locker.

"So in the end all the lookouts had were their own eyes.

"The night of April 14 was beautiful and clear but they still would have seen the black object that was the iceberg at a greater distance with the binoculars."

A year after the Titanic disaster Mr Blair was awarded the Kings Gallantry medal for saving life at sea.

While on board the White Star liner Majestic he jumped into the Atlantic to rescue a crewman who had fallen overboard.

Mr Blair kept the key as a memento and eventually passed it on to his daughter Nancy.

She gave it to the British and International Seamans Society in the 1980s and it is now being sold.

The key and the postcard are expected to fetch up to £70,000 at the auction in Devizes on September 22.