Titanic’s Original Insurance Policy to Be Auctioned in England
The original insurance policy that covered the RMS Titanic against total loss is to be auctioned on 21 November 2026 in Devizes, a market town in Wiltshire, in south-west England. The sale is being held by Henry Aldridge and Son, an auction house known for Titanic items, and experts expect the document to fetch around US$67,000.
The policy insured the White Star liner for US$5 million. It was arranged for the ship’s owners, the Oceanic Steam Navigation Company, with 77 insurers each taking a share of the risk. It was signed about two weeks before the Titanic left Southampton on her maiden voyage to New York on 10 April 1912. Five days later she struck an iceberg in the North Atlantic and sank, with the loss of more than 1,500 lives.
From the CrewMirror Blog
The largest insurer named, Atlantic Mutual, paid US$100,000, and the full sum was paid to the owners within about a month. The document came to light after Atlantic Mutual was liquidated in 2011 and its Titanic archive was shown at an exhibition in New York, where a dealer bought it. Auctioneer Andrew Aldridge called one clause “slightly prophetic” and said it is the only known surviving document about the Titanic’s insurance.
The same sale is also expected to include original Harland & Wolff shipbuilding plans of the Titanic.
CrewMirror Takeaway
More than a century later, the Titanic is still a reminder that insurance can replace a ship but never the lives lost with her. The disaster gave rise to the first SOLAS Convention, and many of the safety rules seafarers follow today trace back to its lessons.
