LONDON - A watch that stopped the moment its owner leapt from the Titanic into the icy Atlantic ocean 90 years ago is expected to fetch up to 25,000 pounds at a memorabilia sale in April, auctioneers said. The hands of the gold-plated Waltham pocket watch belonging to Titanic victim John Gill, 24, are frozen at 3:21 a.m., a few minutes after survivors reported the „unsinkable“ vessel disappear below the waterline at 2:20 a.m. The watch is one of about 40 lots to be sold by Henry Aldridge and Son of Devizes, Wiltshire, on April 12 at the British Titanic Society Convention in Southampton. The collection, being sold on behalf of an American enthusiast is expected to fetch up to 100,000 pounds.

A letter written by the Titanic‘s owners, White Star Line, to Gill‘s widow Sarah is also expected to tempt buyers. The Gills were married on Valentine‘s Day just two months before the Titanic sank with the loss of about 1,500 lives on April 14-15, 1912, on its maiden voyage to New York from Southampton. Gill had set off for New York alone hoping to prepare a new life for them both. When he died, White Star buried his body at sea, but a week later wrote to Sarah saying that if she wanted it returned to England, she would have to pay 20 pounds. „The incredible thing is that they sent the letter a week after he was buried at sea,“ the auctioneer Aldridge said. Apart from letters, other items to go under the hammer include a canvas bag used by White Star to return victims‘ personal effects, a box made from Titanic‘s timbers, postcards, menus, a comb and other personal effects belonging to John Gill. Reuters