Titanic account uncovered
A first class passenger's account of the sinking of the Titanic has been published for the first time nearly 100 years after the disaster.
Laura Francatelli, then 31, wrote of hearing an "awful rumbling" as the liner went down and "then came screams and cries" from 1,500 drowning passengers.
Miss Francatelli, a secretary for baronet Sir Cosmo Duff-Gordon and his wife Lady Lucy Christiana, told of how the three of them boarded one of the last lifeboats containing just five passengers and seven crew – and admitted they did not consider going back for survivors. Sir Cosmo later paid the crew members 5 each – worth about 300 today – money some say was for saving their lives.
Her account is in an affidavit presented to the British inquiry which is being tipped to sell for up to 15,000 at auction.