Last lunch menu from Titanic could fetch $70,000

NEW YORK, Sept. 1 (UPI) -- A menu from the last lunch served on the ill-fated Titanic and other relics from the wrecked ship are expected to fetch hefty sums at auction later this month.

The menu, listing luncheon items that include corned beef, grilled mutton and veal and ham pie, is one of three items from a wealthy Titanic passenger who escaped on Lifeboat 1, or the so-called Millionaire's Boat. The menu alone is estimated to bring in between $50,000 and $70,000 at auction Sept. 30.

The menu was saved by Abraham Lincoln Salomon, a wealthy New York City businessman. It is signed on the back by businessman Isaac Gerald Frauenthal, another first class passenger, who likely ate lunch with Salomon earlier that fateful day in April 1912.

Two other items up for bid: a letter and envelope written by Lifeboat No. 1 survivor Mabel Francatelli on New York's Plaza Hotel stationery six months after the disaster and a printed ticket from the ship's Turkish Baths weighing chair. The letter and envelope could fetch up to $6,000 and the ticket up to $10,000, the auctioneer said.

Lifeboat 1 was also known as the Money Boat because it was lowered into the ocean with just five wealthy passengers and seven crew. The lifeboat was equipped to hold 40.

The wreckage of the Titanic was found Sept. 1, 1985.