NEW YORK.- Christie’s New York 2006 Ocean Liner Furnishings And Art sale features two name boards, a port sign and a house flag from Titanic life boats used during the sinking of the ill-fated ocean liner. Offering a haunting reminder of the infamous 1912 maritime disaster, these items will go under the hammer on June 1 and are the most expensive Titanic lots ever to be offered for sale at Christie’s.

One lot comprises a bronze White Star Line house flag and a cast bronze name board spelling out S.S.Titanic and is estimated at $50,000-70,000; the other comprises a Liverpool port sign and another cast bronze S.S.Titanic name board, and is estimated at $40,000-60,000.

All four items are survivors from life boats that carried passengers to safety on the night of April 14, 1912. Once the life boats had made their journey to the various rescue ships in the area, they were either towed or carried onboard ship to New York harbor. Before being dismantled in Lower Manhattan, the life boats were stripped of their bronze plaques and these four examples have stayed in the United States since this time and are now offered for sale by an American private collector.

Life boats from the Titanic were identified with S.S.Titanic name boards on each side of the bow. White Star Line house flags were displayed on the port side, while the Liverpool port signs were displayed on the starboard.

On the night of the disaster, it became clear that the Titanic had only enough life boats for half the ship’s company. To make things worse, the panic and fear, coupled with inadequate evacuating procedures, meant many of the life boats dropped into the sea half-empty.

During the inquiry into the tragedy, it was noted that the shortage of lifeboats was simply a cost-cutting procedure. The Titanic did have the space and launching equipment for many more lifeboats – but it had been unimaginable to all parties involved that there would ever be a disaster requiring the total evacuation of all the passengers, and therefore the ship was never adequately prepared.

The sale also includes ten other lots of Titanic memorabilia, including a detailed deck plan for use by the first class passengers (estimate: $15,000-25,000) and the original front cover artwork for A Night To Remember, the first book written on the disaster (estimate: $6,000-8,000).