Watch of 'unsinkable' Titanic stoker sells for £3,800 at Gloucestershire auction
A pocket watch belonging to Arthur John Priest, a stoker who survived four shipwrecks including the Titanic and Britannic, sold for £3,800 at an auction in Cheltenham. The item, described as a rare find, had a starting bid of £3,000 and attracted significant interest from buyers. Priest, known as the 'unsinkable' stoker, worked in boiler rooms from 1912 to 1917, surviving the sinkings of the Titanic, Alcantara, Britannic, and Donegal. The watch was reportedly gifted to him in gratitude for saving a life during the 1916 sinking of the Britannic. Priest retired after a head injury in 1917 and died in 1937. The same auction also featured a silver cigarette case recovered from a Titanic steward, which sold for £5,700.