Titanic Memorabilia Frenzy

LONDON (Reuters) - A new wave of Titanic frenzy hit London Wednesday when seven medals awarded to an officer who survived the ship's sinking in 1912 sold at auction for $7,300. British officer Herbert Pitman was a third officer aboard the Titanic, which sank on its maiden voyage after striking an iceberg with the loss of 1,523 lives. Pitman took charge of a lifeboat after the ship sank, but the medals auctioned Wednesday marked not his role in the disaster but mainly his later military service in two world wars. The Sotheby's auction raked in a total of $64,000, said spokesman Simon de Burton.

-- Dan Draghici (ddraghic@sprint.ca), April 02, 1998