The Iceberg That Sank The Titanic May Be Shown In Newly Surfaced Photo From 1912

The infamous Titanic sinking was caused by an iceberg obstructing the ship’s way on April 14, 1912. More than a century after the tragic incident, a resurfaced photo that allegedly captures a third of the frozen chunk is reportedly up for auction.

The 5-inch by 3-inch black-and-white photograph mounted on a cardboard labeled “Titanic,” was taken by a Nova Scotian undertaker, John Snow Jr., who made for the North Atlantic wreckage site on the C.S. MacKay-Bennett two days after the accident.

The iceberg from the infamous Titanic sinking

Although it is not confirmed when exactly John took the picture, auctioneer Andrew Aldridge at Henry Aldridge & Son Auctioneers told The Mirror that his ship was one of the first to visit the wreckage “after the rescue ship Carpathia.” “He must have had his reasons for taking a photo of this iceberg. He captioned it ‘Titanic’ and mounted it for posterity,” Andrew said.

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John reportedly retrieved 306 bodies from the water, including those of John Jacob Astor IV and Isidor Straus. However, only about 216 bodies of first-class and second-class passengers were prepared for burial, while the rest were returned to sea. “Decisions about which bodies to bury at sea were made largely according to the perceived economic class of the recovered victims,” assistant professor of urban sociology at Erasmus University Rotterdam, Jess Bier explained.

The photo is expected to fetch thousands of dollars

According to Andrew, the rare photo “hasn’t been sold before and was acquired directly from Mr Snow’s family by our vendor in the early 1990s.”

“It is an extremely rare photograph and we are sure it will attract a lot of interest,” he added.

The picture, which will be sold on April 27, is expected to sell for $5,000 to $8,700. Interestingly, another similar find, which was taken by the captain of a passing passenger liner two days before the Titanic sank, was sold in 2020. Captain W. Wood, who was on the SS Etonian, confirmed it was the same glacier as he took note of its geographic coordinates.