Coming Up for Auction Is Rare Photo of Titanic Iceberg

Coming up for auction next month is a rare original photograph of the iceberg suspected of sinking the Titanic in the icy North Atlantic in 1912. RRAuction of Amherst, New Hampshire said on its website Monday that the towering iceberg seen in the mounted black-and-white image is "eerily similar" to the one depicted in sketches by two crew members of the ill-fated liner.

It was snapped by W.F. Wood, captain of another vessel, the Etonian, two days prior to the disaster, "at a position arguably 2-3 days' iceberg travel time to Titanic's foundering position," it said.

"The photo shows a massive iceberg with a very distinctive elliptical shape," added the auctioneers, who estimated its value at $8,000 to $10,000 ahead of the sale that runs from December 13 through 16.

The reputedly unsinkable Titanic, on its maiden voyage from Southampton, England to New York, slammed into an iceberg on the night of April 14, 1912 and sank less than three hours later, with the loss of some 1,500 lives.

Flamboyant Australian mining magnate Clive Palmer has caused a global stir with plans to build a full-size replica of the ship, to be called Titanic II, that would make its first passenger voyage to New York in 2016.

Source-AFP