A pocket watch belonging to RMS Titanic postal clerk Oscar Scott Woody has sold for £98,000 at auction.

Forever stopped at the time when it stopped working in the North Atlantic on 14 April 1912, the Ingersoll pocket watch was recovered along with other personal effects and returned to his wife Leila in May 1912.

With a black ribbon fob, charm, and chain, the watch was sold by Henry Aldridge & Sons along with other Titanic memorabilia.

It has been exhibited at various museums, including the Smithsonian Postal Museum, Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, and the Titanic Museum Attraction USA.

Titanic had five sea post clerks aboard, none of whom survived. Only the bodies of Oscar Scott Woody and John Starr March were recovered from the wreck site, and Oscar was buried at sea two weeks after his death. The other postal clerks were John Richard Jago Smith, James Bertram Williamson, and William Gwinn.

There were 3,364 mailbags brought aboard Titanic in total, from its embarkation point Southampton, Queenstown Ireland, and Cherbourg, before the ship headed for New York City. When the Titanic started sinking, the postal clerks tried to save the mail by hauling the sacks to the upper decks.

For full details on the lot and more information about Oscar Scott Woody and postal services on the Titanic, go to this link.

[Photo credit: Henry Alridge & Sons]

Categories: Auctions, Ephemera, Ingersoll, pocket watches, watches