“泰坦尼克号“救生衣将被拍卖

An unused life jacket from the doomed Titanic ship will go under the hammer later this month in New York, Christie's auction house said on Wednesday.

The cork-filled life preserver -- still largely intact, but stained and torn in parts -- was thought to have been found by farmer John James Dunbar on the Halifax shoreline after the passenger ship sank off Newfoundland.

The liner sank during its maiden voyage from the British port of Southampton to New York in April, 1912 when it hit an iceberg, causing some 1,500 people to die.

Christie's, which estimated that the life preserver would sell for $60,000 to $80,000, sold another Titanic life jacket last year in London for $119,000.

Maritime specialist Gregg Dietrich said there was still huge public interest in Titanic memorabilia as the sinking of the ship, which had been billed as unsinkable, caused such a loss of life and was one of the first world-wide news events.

"The Titanic is really one of those bookmarks in time," he said during a press viewing of the item before the auction.

Dietrich said that after the London sale last year, Christie's was inundated with offers of what people thought were Titanic artifacts, but about 99 percent proved to be reproductions.

After getting a call in February from the Nova Scotia MacQuarrie family, who had kept the jacket safe for generations, Dietrich went to check its authenticity and found it had the correct dimensions and looked damaged by water.

He said the jacket -- believed to be one of six remaining -- appeared to have been unused because the shoulder straps were still intact whereas Titanic passengers tended to have had their life preservers cut off to avoid skin chafing.

Dietrich said that the cork filling the jackets was so heavy that many of the survivors and victims of Titanic were found to have broken their jaws on the preservers when they hit the water after jumping from the ship.

The preserver will be the main item in Christie's Ocean Liner auction that also includes a second-class passenger list carried off by 12-year-old survivor Bertha Watt as well as her high school essay describing the night the Titanic went down.

Another item going on sale is a Marconi Gram sent by another survivor, Helen, to her family, estimated to fetch $7,000 to $10,000.

纽约克里斯蒂拍卖行于本周三称，“泰坦尼克号”沉船上的一件未使用过的救生衣将于本月末在纽约被拍卖。

当年“泰坦尼克号”客船在纽芬兰岛附近沉没，这件救生衣是一位名叫约翰•詹姆斯•邓巴的农民之后在纽芬兰岛的哈利法克斯海岸线发现的。这件填满了软木的救生衣除了个别部位有污点和破损外，基本保存完好。

1912年4月，“泰坦尼克号”从英国的南安普敦港口开往纽约，在其首航途中撞上冰山而沉没，约1500人在这场灾难中丧生。

据克里斯蒂拍卖行估计，这件救生衣能拍到6万至8万美元。该拍卖行去年曾在伦敦拍出一件“泰坦尼克号”救生衣，当时的拍价为11.9万美元。

海事专家格雷格•迪特里希说，如今仍有很多人对“泰坦尼克号”的纪念品非常感兴趣，这艘号称“不沉之船”的沉没导致很多人失去生命，是最早轰动全世界的新闻事件之一。

迪特里希在拍卖前的媒体招待会上说：“‘泰坦尼克号’的确是时代的一大标志性事件。”

迪特里希说，在去年的伦敦拍卖会之后，克里斯蒂拍卖行被自称有“泰坦尼克号”物品的顾客弄得应接不暇，但其中99%的物品被证明是复制品。

今年二月，迪特里希接到了收藏该救生衣多年的诺娃•斯科莎•麦克卡利家族的电话，之后他专程前往查验真伪，结果发现这件救生衣的尺寸与真品完全相符，而且看上去是被海水浸泡所损坏的。

他说，这件救生衣看似从未使用过，因为其肩带还完好无损，而当时泰坦尼克号上的旅客为了防止皮肤擦伤都把救生衣剪开了。这件救生衣被认为是目前仅存的六件泰坦尼克号救生衣的其中一件。

迪特里希说，由于救生衣里填充的软木太沉，以致于当年很多生还或遇难的乘客在跳船逃生时都弄折了下巴。

除救生衣这一“主角”外，克里斯蒂拍卖行此次“泰坦尼克号”主题拍卖还包括一名12岁的幸存女孩贝莎•沃特带出的一份二等舱乘客名单以及她上中学时写的一篇描写沉船之夜的作文。

此外，另一位幸存者海伦发给家人的电报也将被拍卖，拍卖估价在七千到一万美元。